Hurricane Fran
August 23-September 8, 1996
Hurricane Fran made landfall just north of the South Carolina-North
Carolina border on September 6, 1996. This same region of the
coast was struck only months earlier by Hurricane Bertha. As a
category 3 storm at the time of landfall, Fran was the second
major hurricane to strike the U.S. during the 1996 Atlantic season.
Hurricane force wind gusts were felt up to 230 km inland causing
significant damage outside the immediate coastal area. The total
direct and indirect death toll from Fran was 34. Most of the deaths
were caused by flash flooding in the Carolinas, Virginia, West
Virginia and Pennsylvania resulting from rainfall totals up to
10 inches. Total U.S. damage estimates of $3.2 billion rank Fran
as the third costliest hurricane to strike the U.S. Evacuation
totals of the coastal residents and tourists reached close to
a half-million.
Ocean Turbidity
As a category 3 hurricane, Fran had a large impact on the turbidity
of the coastal waters as seen in the after image. The largest
affected areas lie to the right of Fran's track in the Onslow
Bay and Pamlico Sound, North Carolina regions with the highest absolute reflectance
values just offshore of Cape Fear and Cape Lookout, North Carolina. The difference
image reveals that some of the largest before-to-after changes
are associated with the points of capes. The capes are often associated
with shallow offshore shoals which suggests that a large amount
of bottom sediment resuspension occurred. Some signal may also
be due to sediment erosion from beaches since one would also expect
the largest waves in these cape regions.
| Before | After | Difference (after minus before) |
Sea Surface Temperature
An overall cooling is apparent in the difference image
following the passage of Fran. In the after image a very
noticeable cool eddy is evident beneath Fran's ground track near
the western edge of the Gulf Stream. This eddy lasted for several
days.
| Before | After | Difference (after minus before) |
For scientists more time series Satellite Images in GEOTIFF Format
are available
