Tropical Storm Arlene (1993)
| Tropical storm (SSHWS/NWS) | |
Tropical Storm Arlene near its Texas landfall on June 19
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| Formed | June 18, 1993 |
|---|---|
| Dissipated | June 21, 1993 |
| Highest winds |
1-minute sustained: 40 mph (65 km/h) |
| Lowest pressure | 1000 mbar (hPa); 29.53 inHg |
| Fatalities | 26 direct |
| Damage | ≥ $60.8 million (1993 USD) |
| Areas affected | El Salvador, Yucatán Peninsula, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas |
| Part of the 1993 Atlantic hurricane season | |
Tropical Storm Arlene brought torrential rainfall to the western United States Gulf Coast, particularly to the U.S. state of Texas, in June 1993. The first named storm of the annual hurricane season, Arlene developed from an area of low pressure in the Bay of Campeche on June 18. The depression slowly strengthened as it tracked west-northwestward and later north-northwestward across the western Gulf of Mexico. Arlene was subsequently upgraded to a tropical storm on June 19, but failed to intensify further due to its proximity to land. The cyclone then made landfall on Padre Island, Texas, with winds of 40 mph (65 km/h) and degenerated into a remnant disturbance on June 21.
The precursor disturbance to Tropical Storm Arlene dropped heavy rainfall over Central America. As a result, 20 fatalities occurred, all of which were from a mudslide in El Salvador. Heavy rainfall also produced heavy rainfall on the Yucatán Peninsula. After Arlene became a tropical cyclone, rainfall in Mexico inundated areas of Campeche, where damage totaled US$33 million. In total, five people were killed in Mexico. Flood damage in South Texas was extensive, with widespread urban flooding and road closures. Entire plots of farmland were inundated by torrential rains brought by Arlene. The landfalling Arlene interacted with a passing cold front which helped to produce showers further northeast, though damage in those locales was comparatively less severe. In total, Arlene caused 26 deaths and at least US$60.8 million in damage.
The precursor to Arlene was first identified in satellite images as a cluster of disturbed weather east of the Mosquito Coast on June 9. Over the following week, the system grew in expanse as it slowly tracked northwestward as strong wind shear in the area prohibited the development of a tropical cyclone. On June 16, the formation of an upper-level low over the Bay of Campeche and the progression of a tropical wave across the Caribbean Sea helped foster the development of a low-pressure area over the Yucatán Peninsula. Although initially diffuse, new rainbands began to wrap around the new vortex's center, and at 0000 UTC, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) classified the system as a tropical depression west of the Yucatán Peninsula. Although the storm was now considered a tropical cyclone, wind shear that had earlier inhibited development remained present, as well as the outflow of Tropical Storm Beatriz in the Eastern Pacific, disrupting the core of the infant tropical depression; aircraft reconnaissance often could not identify a defined center of circulation.
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