SURFACE WIND FIELDS OF 1995 HURRICANE-ERIN, HURRICANE-OPAL, HURRICANE-LUIS, HURRICANE-MARILYN, AND HURRICANE-ROXANNE AT LANDFALL

Hurricanes Erin, Opal, Luis, Marilyn, and Roxanne were the most destru ctive hurricanes of 1995. At landfall, Luis and Marilyn contained maxi mum sustained winds (marine exposure) estimated at near 60 and 46 m s( -1), respectively. The strongest landfalling storm of the 1995 season, Luis, decreased in intensity from a category 4 to 3 on the Saffir-Sim pson scale shortly before the eyewall crossed the Islands of Antigua, Barbuda, St. Kitts-Nevis, St. Barthelemy, St. Martin, and Anguilla. Hu rricane Marilyn strengthened as it approached the U.S. Virgin Islands, with St. Thomas bearing the brunt of the north and south eyewall wind s of 46 m s(-1) (marine exposure) and St. Croix being affected by the relatively weak western eyewall peak winds of 35-40 m s(-1) (marine ex posure). For Luis and Marilyn only surface winds with marine exposures were analyzed because of unknown small-scale interactions associated with complex island terrain with 500-1000-m elevations. Wind engineeri ng studies suggest that wind acceleration over blunt ridges can increa se or ''speed up'' winds by 20%-80%. Topographic effects were evident in damage debris analyses and suggest that an operational method of as sessing terrain-induced wind gusts (such as a scaled down mesoscale mo del) is needed. After landfall as a marginal hurricane over central Fl orida, Hurricane Erin regained strength over the Gulf of Mexico with a well-defined radar reflectivity structure. Erin struck the Florida pa nhandle near Navarre Beach with maximum sustained surface winds of 35- 40 m s(-1) affecting the Destin-Ft. Walton area. Hurricane Opal made l andfall in nearly the identical area as Erin, with maximum sustained s urface winds of 40-45 m s(-1), having weakened from an intensity of ne arly 60 m s(-1) only 10 h earlier. Opal was characterized by an asymme tric structure that was likely related to cold front interaction and a n associated midlevel southwesterly jet. Roxanne struck Cozumel, Mexic o, with sustained surface winds (marine exposure) of 46 s(-1), crossed the Yucatan, and meandered in the southwest Gulf of Mexico for severa l days. While in the Bay of Campeche, Roxanne's large area of hurrican e-force winds disabled a vessel, which lead to the drowning deaths of five oil industry workers. High-resolution wind records are critical t o preserving an accurate extreme wind climatology required for assessm ent of realistic building code risks. Unfortunately, power interruptio ns to Automated Surface Observing Stations on the U.S. Virgin Islands (St. Croix, St. Thomas) and Destin, Florida, prevented complete wind r ecords of the eyewall passages of Marilyn and Opal, respectively.