Tropical Storm Vicky (SSHWS) | |
Duration | September 14 – September 17 |
---|---|
Peak intensity | 50 mph (85 km/h) (1-min) 1000 mbar (hPa) |
In the early hours of September 11, a tropical wave moved off the coast of West Africa.[314] The disturbance steadily organized, and the NHC issued a special advisory to designate the system as Tropical Depression Twenty-One at 10:00 UTC on September 14.[315] The depression strengthened into Tropical Storm Vicky five hours later based on scatterometer data, becoming the earliest twentieth Atlantic tropical storm on record, surpassing the record set by Tropical Storm Tammy in 2005 by 21 days.[316][317] It was also the first V-named Atlantic storm since 2005's Hurricane Vince.[318] Despite extremely strong shear removing all but a small convective cluster to the northeast of its center, Vicky intensified further, reaching its peak intensity with 1-minute sustained winds of 50 mph (85 km/h) and a pressure of 1000 mbar (29.53 inHg) at 03:00 UTC on September 15.[319][320] Six hours later, Vicky's pressure rose, but its winds continued to stay at 50 mph into the next day despite over 50 knots (60 mph, 95 km/h) of wind shear.[321][322][323] Eventually, the shear began to take its toll on Vicky, and Vicky's winds began to fall.[324] It weakened into a tropical depression at 15:00 UTC on September 17[325] before degenerating into a remnant low six hours later.[326]
The tropical wave that spawned Tropical Storm Vicky produced flooding in the Cabo Verde Islands less than a week after Tropical Storm Rene moved through the region. One person was killed in Praia on September 12 from the tropical wave.[327][3