Hurricane Caroline

Hurricane Caroline

Category 3 major hurricane (SSHWS/NWS)
Hurricane Caroline before landfall
Formed	August 24, 1975
Dissipated	September 1, 1975
Highest winds	1-minute sustained: 115 mph (185 km/h)
Lowest pressure	963 mbar (hPa); 28.44 inHg
Fatalities	2 indirect
Areas affected	Cuba, northern Mexico, Texas
Part of the 1975 Atlantic hurricane season

Hurricane Caroline was one of two tropical cyclones to affect northern Mexico during the 1975 Atlantic hurricane season. The third named storm and second hurricane of the season, Caroline developed on August 24 north of the Dominican Republic. The system crossed Cuba and briefly degenerated into a tropical wave due to land interaction. However, upon emergence into the western Caribbean Sea, it was once again designated as a tropical depression after a well-defined circulation was observed on satellite imagery. Moving towards the west-northwest, the cyclone clipped the northern portion of the Yucatán Peninsula before entering the Gulf of Mexico. Caroline was upgraded to a tropical storm on August 29 in the central Gulf of Mexico before rapid intensification began. Early on August 31, Caroline reached its peak intensity with winds of 115 mph (185 km/h), before landfall south of Brownsville, Texas with winds of 105 mph (165 km/h) shortly thereafter. After moving inland, Caroline quickly weakened and dissipated over the mountainous terrain of northeastern Mexico on September 1. There were only two deaths from Caroline, both indirect. However, there was heavy rainfall in southern Texas and Mexico, including almost 12 in (300 mm) at Port Isabel.

A tropical wave exited the west coast of Africa on August 15 and rapidly moved westward at 17 mph (28 km/h) along the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). On August 18, the system turned northeast away from the ITCZ and slowed down by the time it was 600 miles (965 km) northeast of Puerto Rico. On August 22 and 23, the system changed course for the second time as it turned to the southwest. By noon on August 24, satellite imagery showed the disturbance establishing a closed area of circulation with winds reaching 25 mph (40 km/h) and the barometric pressure falling to 1,011 millibars (29.9 inHg). The disturbance then became Tropical Depression Five as it neared northeastern Cuba and southeastern Bahamas. It crossed Cuba where it momentarily weakened back to a tropical wave. The cyclone then regained tropical depression status on August 27 as it continued westward into the Gulf of Mexico.