Hurricane Nate (2011)

Hurricane Nate

Category 1 hurricane (SSHWS/NWS)
Hurricane Nate near peak intensity on September 8
Formed	September 7, 2011
Dissipated	September 12, 2011
(Remnant low after September 11)
Highest winds	1-minute sustained: 75 mph (120 km/h)
Lowest pressure	994 mbar (hPa); 29.35 inHg
Fatalities	4 direct, 1 indirect
Areas affected	Mexico
Part of the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season

Hurricane Nate caused minor damage in southeastern Mexico in mid-September 2011. The sixteenth named storm and fourth hurricane of the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season, Nate originated from a frontal trough in the Bay of Campeche on September 7. Within a weak steering environment, the storm meandered southwestward while gradually gaining strength. Though classified as a tropical storm operationally, data during a post-season review indicated that Nate briefly attained Category 1 hurricane status on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale on September 8. As a result of its slow motion, the storm caused significant upwelling, leading to a marked decrease in convection, and weakening accordingly. On September 11, Nate moved ashore Mexico as a tropical storm, producing several inches of rainfall and damaging several hundred structures. Ten oil rig workers went missing; seven were rescued, but one died of an unknown cause, and three other bodies were later recovered. In Veracruz, a boy was killed after being struck by lightning.

On September 5, a frontal trough, the same responsible for the extratropical transition of Tropical Storm Lee, passed through the western Gulf of Mexico before stalling in the central Gulf of Mexico and Bay of Campeche. At the tail-end of the trough, increased shower and thunderstorm activity associated with a developing low-pressure area prompted the National Hurricane Center (NHC) to begin monitoring the disturbance for tropical cyclone formation the next day. The low separated from the front early on September 7, but convection was too disorganized for classification at the time. By 1800 UTC, however, a curved band developed in the western semicircle of the circulation. In accordance with satellite imagery, surface observations from land and oil rigs, and data from a reconnaissance aircraft, the disturbance was upgraded to Tropical Storm Nate, positioned roughly 160 mi (260 km) north of Villahermosa, Mexico.