David was a Cape Verde Hurricane that moved around the periphery of
the subtropical ridge. The system
moved off the coast of Africa on the 22nd of August, becoming a
tropical depression southwest of the Cape
Verde Islands on the 25th and a tropical storm on the 26th midway
between the Cape Verdes and the Lesser
Antilles. On the 27th, David intensified into a hurricane.
By the 29th, David strengthened into a category 3
hurricane which moved across Dominica, becoming the most intense
hurricane to strike the island so far in
the 20th century. Moving west-northwest through the Caribbean,
the eye of David passed 70 miles south
of Puerto Rico causing rainfall amounts up to 21 inches. By the
afternoon of the 30th, David had become
a category 5 hurricane south of Puerto Rico. Heavy rains
overspread St. Croix and Puerto Rico as David
moved by to the south. The rainfall graphics below use data
supplied by the National Climatic Data Center
in Asheville, NC.
On the 31st, the hurricane struck the Domincan Republic west of
Santo Domingo, becoming the strongest
storm to hit the country since 1930. David emerged as a tropical
storm in the Windward Passage on the
1st of September, then crossed the eastern tip of Cuba on its way to
Florida. On the afternoon of the 2nd,
David regained hurricane strength. By noon on the 3rd, David
began skirting the Florida coast near West
Palm Beach moving back offshore near New Smyrna Beach. A final
landfall was made on Georgia on the
afternoon of the 4th. The cyclone then accelerated up the
Appalachians through the Mid Atlantic, becoming
extratropical before entering New England on the 6th. Below
is a track of the storm, created by the National
Hurricane Center.
Below are the storm total rainfall maps for David, using data
provided
by the National Climatic Data Center.