Jeanne was a rare November tropical cyclone which became a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico. A weak
tropical wave moved off the coast of Africa on October 26th. It crossed the Atlantic Basin without further
development until it neared Central America. The system organized into a tropical depression on November
8th and moved northward into the Yucatan channel. Becoming a tropical storm, the system turned westward
as it encountered ridging to its north. By the morning of the 11th, Jeanne had become a hurricane. Record-
breaking rains were witnessed at Key West the following day, when 23.28" of rain fell between the early
morning of the 12th and 13th, with 13.58" falling in a six-hour period. This rain occurred as Jeanne's
inflow band intersected a stationary front in that vicinity. Jeanne continued westward, weakening back into
a tropical storm on the evening of the 12th and eventually stalled a couple hundred miles offshore southern
Texas. A cold front moved through the northwest Gulf on the 14th, and Jeanne subsequently weakened
into a tropical depression. By the 16th, Jeanne became a frontal wave. Below is a map of the storm total
rainfall related to Jeanne in Florida, constructed using data from the National Climatic Data Center in
Asheville, NC.
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