On August 8th, a tropical wave was moving southwest of Cabo Verde. A couple days later, showers and thunderstorms increased with the wave, showing signs of organization on the 11th. The developing low pressure area moved north of due west, becoming a tropical storm by the afternoon of the 12th. Development continued, and Ernesto became a hurricane on the 14th to the north-northwest of Puerto Rico. The cyclone continued to recurve and made landfall on Bermuda on the 17th. The system's interaction with an upper level trough caused thunderstorm activity near the center to become sparso, leading to a hybrid appearance on satellite imagery. Sputtering convection moistened up its otherwise dry environment, causing Ernesto a regain a more tropical appearance and strengthen on the 18th into a hurricane. Moving north-northeast, Ernesto moved close to Newfoundland while becoming extratropical late on the 19th into early on the 20th. The cyclone raced east-northeast across the North Atlantic, just missing northern portions of Great Britain late on the 21st into early on the 22nd before becoming absorbed by a stronger low southeast of Iceland.
The graphics below show the storm total rainfall for Ernesto, which used rain gage information from National Weather Service River Forecast Centers, xMACIS2, National Weather Service Forecast Offices, and CoCoRAHS.
 |
 |
 |