The 2009 season

Tropical Storm Erika (2009)

Tropical Storm Erika peaked at 45 kt in the North Atlantic between September 1, 2009 and September 4, 2009, with a lowest pressure of 1004 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Erika, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 2009 season in the same basin behind it, and its wind and pressure hour by hour. Every fix is in the track table below.

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The storm

Basin
North Atlantic
Dates
September 1, 2009 to September 4, 2009
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 45 kt (52 mph)
Lowest pressure
1004 mb (29.65 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
1.3
Tropical-storm-force wind reached
200 nmi (370 km, 230 mi) from the center at its widest
Eyewall radius at its peak
75 nmi (139 km, 86 mi)
Overall size
150 nmi (278 km, 173 mi) to the outermost closed isobar
Peak gust in the best track
60 kt (69 mph)
Fastest the center moved
20 kt (23 mph)
Identifier
AL062009

Deaths and damage

No source this site reads carries a casualty or damage figure for this storm.

Landfall

Time (UTC)WherePositionWindPressure
Sep 2, 18:30Le Moule, Guadeloupe, Guadeloupe, 6 km away16.3N 61.3W35 kt (40 mph)1008 mb

Landfall points the US agencies flagged in the best track. The nearest town is named from the site’s gazetteer, not from the report.

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Sep 1, 18:0016.7N 57.3W45 kt1007 mbTropical storm
Sep 2, 00:0016.8N 58.0W45 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Sep 2, 06:0016.5N 58.9W45 kt1005 mbTropical storm
Sep 2, 12:0016.4N 59.9W35 kt1008 mbTropical storm
Sep 2, 18:0016.3N 61.0W35 kt1008 mbTropical storm
Sep 2, 18:30 landfall16.3N 61.3W35 kt1008 mbTropical storm
Sep 3, 00:0016.3N 61.9W35 kt1009 mbTropical storm
Sep 3, 06:0016.4N 62.7W40 kt1008 mbTropical storm
Sep 3, 12:0016.5N 63.5W40 kt1008 mbTropical storm
Sep 3, 18:0016.6N 64.5W30 kt1008 mbTropical depression
Sep 4, 00:0016.8N 65.5W25 kt1009 mbLow
Sep 4, 06:0017.0N 66.5W25 kt1010 mbLow

Other North Atlantic storms of 2009

What this means

A best track is the record a warning agency settles on after the storm, not what it said at the time: position, maximum sustained wind and central pressure every six hours, revised against every observation that came in later. Category is the Saffir-Simpson scale, which runs from Category 1 at 64 kt to Category 5 at 137 kt and reads wind only, so it says nothing about surge or rain. Accumulated cyclone energy adds up the square of the wind through the storm's life, so it counts strength and duration together.

Sources

Storm history from NOAA NCEI’s International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship (IBTrACS), which merges the official best track of every warning agency. Live storms, cones, watches and warnings from the National Hurricane Center and the Central Pacific Hurricane Center. Archived radar from NOAA’s Level II archive.