 Track of Laura, according to the Saffir–Simpson scale | |
| Meteorological history | |
|---|---|
| Formed | August 20, 2020 |
| Dissipated | August 29, 2020 |
| Category 4 major hurricane | |
| 1-minute sustained (SSHWS/NWS) | |
| Highest winds | 150 mph (240 km/h) |
| Lowest pressure | 937 mbar (hPa); 27.67 inHg |
| Overall effects | |
| Areas affected | Lesser Antilles, Greater Antilles, The Bahamas, Gulf Coast of the United States, Midwestern United States, Eastern United States |
Part of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season | |
| History
Effects Other wikis | |
Hurricane Laura tied the record for the strongest hurricane to make landfall in Louisiana as measured by maximum sustained winds, along with the 1856 Last Island hurricane and Hurricane Ida, and was overall the tenth-strongest hurricane to make landfall in the United States. The thirteenth tropical cyclone, twelfth named storm, fourth hurricane, and first major hurricane of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season, Laura originated from a large tropical wave that moved off the West African coast on August 16. The tropical wave gradually organized, becoming a tropical depression on August 20. Though in only a marginally conducive environment for intensification, the depression nevertheless intensified into a tropical storm a day later, becoming the earliest twelfth named storm on record in the North Atlantic basin, forming eight days earlier than 1995's Hurricane Luis. The depression received the name Laura and tracked west-northwest towards the Lesser Antilles.
Laura first hit the Lesser Antilles and brushed Puerto Rico as a tropical storm, before it moved across the island of Hispaniola. The storm killed 21 people in Haiti and four in the Dominican Republic. The storm later moved across the length of Cuba, while maintaining its intensity as convection was mainly to the south of the island, although its outer rainbands extended into the Florida Keys and South Florida. Laura moved across the Gulf of Mexico, strengthening slowly at first, before a period of rapid intensification began on August 26. That day, Laura became a major hurricane, and later attained peak winds of 150 mph (240 km/h), making it a strong Category 4 hurricane, with its pressure bottoming out at 937 mbar (27.7 inHg). Early on August 27, Laura made landfall near peak intensity on Cameron, Louisiana with 150 miles per hour (240 km/h) winds, with a minimum central pressure of 939 mbar (27.7 inHg). It quickly weakened over land, degrading to a tropical storm over Northwestern Louisiana before dropping to tropical depression status near Pine Bluff, Arkansas on August 28. It turned eastward and became a remnant low over Kentucky on August 29 before being absorbed by an extratropical low over Maryland several hours later.