Remembering 2005’s Hurricane Dennis

On this date in 2005, Brian Peters and I were sitting in Gulf Shores, Alabama as Hurricane Dennis bore down on the northern Gulf Coast.

The hurricane had rapidly intensified the previous day after entering the southeastern Gulf of Mexico in a weakened state. The pressure had dropped 37 millibars in 24 hours and an amazing 11 millibars in just one hour and 35 minutes. Top winds were 145 miles per hour, making Dennis a Category Four hurricane.

As I sat in the hotel lobby the previous day tracking the storm’s deepening, there was a real fear that it could become a category five hurricane. I remember Jeff Flock, the famous CNN reporter who covered hurricanes bursting into the lobby and exclaiming that they were checking out because the storm was becoming too strong.

Fortunately, Dennis was small in size, fast moving, and weakening at landfall, which lessened its impact. Winds gusted to 105 mph at the Navarre Bridge, near where the center made landfall.

Intense wind damage was reported measured along a narrow path into South Alabama. Crop and timber losses were heavy. 7.67 inches of rain fell in Pensacola. Surge of 7.1 feet was measured at Fort Morgan on the Alabama coast and 6.5 feet near Navarre.

The Gulf Coast had already experienced Hurricane Cindy, which had made landfall in Louisiana and Mississippi, spawning 40 tornadoes, including one that we wrote about last week that damaged the Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Even as Dennis was dissipating that Monday, July 11th, we were already watching Emily. The incredibly busy hurricane season of 2005 was in full swing.

Radar loop courtesy NWS Mobile/Pensacola.

Category: ALL POSTS, Met 101/Weather History