A tropical wave moved off the coast of Africa late on August
27th. By midday on the 28th, convection
blossomed south of the Cape Verde Islands. By the 29th, the
system had developed into a tropical depression.
As it moved west at 21 mph, it slowly strengthened, becoming a tropical
storm southwest of the Cape Verde
Islands by midday the 30th and a hurricane early on the morning of the
1st while 1000 miles east of the Lesser
Antilles. Outflow from Hurricane David, which was tracking ahead
of Frederic, weakened Frederic back into
a tropical storm that evening and a tropical depression during the
afternoon of the 6th.
The cyclone passed over the Greater Antilles, bringing heavy rains
to southern Puerto Rico and St. Croix.
The rainfall graphic below uses data
supplied by the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, NC.
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beginning on the 7th as David's influence aloft weakened. The cyclone regained tropical storm intensity
on the evening of the 8th and hurricane strength by the morning of the 10th while near the west end of
Cuba. The hurricane moved steadily to the northwest, with the eye crossing Dauphin Island, Alabama
late on the 13th and making final landfall near the Alabama/Mississippi border an hour later. As it moved
through the Southeast, Frederic set a new low pressure report for Meridian, Mississippi of 977 hPa/ 28.85."
Below is a storm total rainfall map for Frederic, using data provided by the National Climatic Data Center.
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