Tropical Cyclone Weekly Summary #220 (October 15 - 22, 1995)

[Jack Beven]

This report is compiled from warnings issued by:
National Hurricane Center Central Pacific Hurricane Center
Naval Pacific Meteor./Ocean. Center Fiji Meteorological Service
Meteorological Service of New Zealand Joint Typhoon Warning Center
Japanese Meteorological Agency Bureau of Meteorology, Australia
Philippine Meteorological Service Royal Observatory of Hong Kong
Indian Meteorological Department Reunion Meteorological Service
Mauritius Meteorological Service
(others may be added as they become available)

Author's Note; Special thanks to Norman Lynagh for providing observations
from Typhoon Ted that should have appeared in last weeks summary.


WEEKLY TROPICAL CYCLONE SUMMARY #220 OCTOBER 15 - 22, 1995

North Atlantic Basin:

Hurricane Roxanne At the start of the summary period, Roxanne was over
the southwestern Gulf of Mexico and drifting southeast with 75 kt winds. This
turned out to be the second peak intensity of the system. Roxanne drifted west
on 16 October, then it drifted northwest the next day while weakening to a
tropical storm. The storm continued a northwest drift on 18 October, then it
stalled near 23N 96W the next day while weakening to a depression. The cyclone
turned south on 20 October before dissipating later that day near 21N 96W.

There are no new reports of damage, casualties, or significant to add to
those in last week's summary.

Tropical Storm Sebastien: Tropical Depression Twenty formed near 14N 54W
on 20 October. The system moved northwest and reached tropical storm strength
later that day. Sebastien turned north on 21 October and west on 22 October.
At the end of the summary period, Sebastien was northeast of the Leeward
Islands, moving west at its peak intensity of 50 kt.

A reconnaissance plane measured a minimum central pressure of 1001 mb on
22 October. Ship ELSE5 reported 52 kt winds and a 1007.5 mb pressure at 1800
UTC the same day.

Eastern North Pacific Basin (E of 140 Deg. W): No tropical cyclones.

Central North Pacific Basin (180 Deg. W to 140 Deg. W): No tropical cyclones.

Western North Pacific Basin (W of 180 Deg.):

Typhoon Ward: Tropical Depression 26W formed near 13N 152E on 16 October.
Initially moving west-northwest, the system turned west and passed near the
Mariana Island of Rota as a tropical storm on 17 October. It reached typhoon
strength later that day. Ward turned west-northwest on 18 October and north-
northwest on 19 October. The typhoon recurved north-northeast on 20 October as
it reached a peak intensity of 140 kt. It turned northeast and rapidly weak-
ened on 21 October, and the system became extratropical on 22 October near
32N 147E.

Ward had a tight center while passing through the Marianas. Strong winds
were apparently confined to the area near Rota where no observations were
available. Saipan reported a peak gust of 35 kt at 0958 UTC 17 October, while
maximum reported winds on Guam were below tropical storm force. Ship 9MSM
reported 48 kt winds at 0600 UTC 20 October. There are no reports of damage
or casualties at this time.

Special Update on Typhoon Ted: I inadvertently omitted significant surface
observations on Typhoon Ted from my last summary. These were provided by
Norman Lynagh of Noble Denton Weather Services in London, England. An oil rig
in the Gulf of Tonkin near 17.9N 109.7E reported 65 kt sustained winds at sea
level between 0000 and 0100 UTC 12 October, with a gust to 111 kt at about
100 m elevation at 1930 UTC 11 October. There are still no reports of damage
or casualties at this time.

North Indian Ocean Basin:

Tropical Cyclone 02A: At the start of the summary period, Tropical Cyclone
02A was moving northwest through the Arabian Sea with 40 kt winds. The storm
drifted northwest to north on 16 October, then it turned southwest on 17
October. Rapid weakening ensued, and TC-02A dissipated near 18N 60E later
that day.

South Indian Ocean Basin (W of 135 Deg. E): No tropical cyclones.

South Pacific Ocean Basin (E of 135 Deg. E): No tropical cyclones.


Disclaimer: While an effort has been made to insure that this information is
as accurate as possible, this is a preliminary and unofficial report drawn
from operational warnings. Thus, it may not always agree with the best track
information published after the storm is over. Please address any questions
or comments on the information this week to Jack Beven at Internet addresses:

jbe...@delphi.com

or

be...@trdis.aoml.erl.gov

Past text copies of the Tropical Cyclone Weekly Summary can be obtained via
anonymous ftp from squall.met.fsu.edu in directory pub/jack. They are also
available by e-mail. Please send an e-mail message to Jack Beven if you are
interested.

A digitized version of the weekly summary with DMSP polar orbiting imagery
is available over the World Wide Web. This is courtesy of the DMSP satellite
archive. It can be found at: http://web.ngdc.noaa.gov/ under the Weekly
Tropical Cyclone Summary link of the DMSP Satellite Archive home page.

For more information on the imagery and how to retrieve the digitized
summary and images by other methods, please contact the DMSP archive at:

dm...@ngdc.noaa.gov