Hurricane Florence (2006)

Hurricane Florence

Category 1 hurricane (SSHWS/NWS)
Hurricane Florence approaching Bermuda on September 10
Formed	September 3, 2006
Dissipated	September 18, 2006
(Extratropical after September 13, 2006)
Highest winds	1-minute sustained: 90 mph (150 km/h)
Lowest pressure	974 mbar (hPa); 28.76 inHg
Fatalities	None
Damage	$200,000 (2006 USD)
Areas affected	Bermuda, Newfoundland, East Coast of the United States
Part of the 2006 Atlantic hurricane season

Hurricane Florence was the first North Atlantic hurricane to produce hurricane-force winds on the island of Bermuda since Hurricane Fabian in September 2003. The seventh tropical storm and second hurricane of the 2006 Atlantic hurricane season, Florence developed from a tropical wave in the eastern Atlantic Ocean on September 3. Due to unfavorable conditions, the system failed to organize initially, and as a result, the storm grew to an unusually large size. After several days, Florence encountered an area of lesser wind shear and intensified into a hurricane on September 10. It passed just west of Bermuda while recurving northeastward, and on September 13 it transitioned into an extratropical cyclone.

Florence produced wind gusts of up to 115 mph (185 km/h) on Bermuda, which caused several power outages and minor damage. Florence then brought heavy rains across Newfoundland as an extratropical storm, destroying one house and causing minor damage to several others. There were no fatalities as a result of the hurricane.

A tropical wave moved off the coast of Africa on August 29. It tracked slowly westward, and first showed signs of development two days later. On August 31, a second tropical wave exited the coast of Africa at a faster speed than its predecessor. The two waves interacted, and by September 2 combined to form a large area of disturbed weather across the eastern Atlantic Ocean.Convection increased within the system, and it developed a concentrated area of convection in conjunction with a well-defined low pressure area. By late on September 3, the system maintained a broad closed circulation and enough convective organization to be classified Tropical Depression Six while located about midway between the Lesser Antilles and Africa.