The strongest hurricane of the 1996 hurricane season began as a cyclonic
cloud circulation
which was moving across western Africa on the 17th and 18th of August.
Emerging off the
coast on the 19th, it immediately became a tropical depression.
Moving westward across
the tropical Atlantic, the system developed into a tropical storm by
the 22nd. A deep
cyclonic circulation east of Bermuda created a weakness in the high
to Eduoard's north,
which caused a change in track towards the west-northwest. Edouard
reached hurricane
force on the 23rd, and a major hurricane on the 24th. Maximum
sustained winds increased
to 125 knots...145 mph...on the 26th and during the evening of the
27th.
Moving to the north of the Lesser Antilles, it began to track more to
the north as a mid-
level trough developed near the East Coast. As it departed the
tepid waters of the southwest
Atlantic, its intensity slowly waned. By the 1st, Edouard's path
looked to clip New England
while retaining 70 kt...85 mph...winds. Edouard veered sharply
to the east just before reaching
the coast of Massachusetts, missing by a mere 75 nautical miles on
the 2nd. This is the time
period when Eduoard's rains drenched southeast New England. Edouard
had been caught up
in the Westerlies by this time, and became extratropical on the 3rd,
moving well south of the
Maritime Provinces of Canada. Its track is below, and was provided
by the National
Hurricane Center.
On the graphic below is the storm total rainfall for Eduoard.
Note the maximum in heavy
rains occurred just north of Hyannis.
Below is the calendar for Daily Precipitation Maps. Note that
the 24-hour periods end
at 12z that morning.
Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
2 | 3 |