Tropical Depression One was a tropical depression that in June 1992, produced

100-year flood A 100-year flood is a flood event that has a 1 in 100 chance (1% probability) of being equaled or exceeded in any given year. The 100-year flood is also referred to as the 1% flood, since its annual exceedance probability is 1%.Holmes, R.R., Jr. ...

s in portions of southwestern

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. The first tropical depression and second

tropical cyclone A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depen ...

of the

1992 Atlantic hurricane season The 1992 Atlantic hurricane season was a significantly below average season, but it did feature Hurricane Andrew, the costliest Atlantic hurricane known at the time, surpassing Hugo of 1989 and later surpassed by Katrina of 2005. The season ...

, the depression developed on June 25 from a tropical wave. Located in an environment of strong

wind shear Wind shear (or windshear), sometimes referred to as wind gradient, is a difference in wind speed and/or direction over a relatively short distance in the atmosphere. Atmospheric wind shear is normally described as either vertical or horizont ...

, much of the

convection Convection is single or multiphase fluid flow that occurs spontaneously due to the combined effects of material property heterogeneity and body forces on a fluid, most commonly density and gravity (see buoyancy). When the cause of the conve ...

in the system was located well to the southeast of the poorly defined center of circulation. The depression moved northeastward and made

landfall Landfall is the event of a storm moving over land after being over water. More broadly, and in relation to human travel, it refers to 'the first land that is reached or seen at the end of a journey across the sea or through the air, or the fact ...

near

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

on June 26 shortly before dissipating over land. The depression, in combination with an upper-level trough to its west, produced heavy rainfall to the east of its path, peaking at in

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

and in Florida. In Cuba, the rainfall destroyed hundreds of homes and caused two fatalities. In Florida, particularly in

Sarasota Sarasota () is a city in Sarasota County on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The area is renowned for its cultural and environmental amenities, beaches, resorts, and the Sarasota School of Architecture. The city is located in the sou ...

and

Manatee Manatees (family Trichechidae, genus ''Trichechus'') are large, fully aquatic, mostly herbivorous marine mammals sometimes known as sea cows. There are three accepted living species of Trichechidae, representing three of the four living speci ...

counties, the rainfall caused severe flooding. 4,000 houses were affected, forcing thousands to evacuate. The flooding killed two in the state and was indirectly responsible for a traffic casualty. Damage in Florida totaled over $2.6 million (1992 USD, $4 million 2009 USD).

Meteorological history

A weak tropical wave moved off the coast of Africa on June 12. It tracked westward across the tropical Atlantic Ocean with minimal

, and subsequent to moving through the southern

Windward Islands french: Îles du Vent , image_name = , image_caption = ''Political'' Windward Islands. Clockwise: Dominica, Martinique, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Grenada. , image_alt = , locator_map = , location = Caribbean Sea No ...

it crossed northern

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

. Convection increased on June 20 as the wave entered the southwestern Caribbean. Under the influence of southeasterly flow from developing

Hurricane Celia Hurricane Celia was the costliest tropical cyclone in Texas history until Hurricane Alicia in 1983 Atlantic hurricane season, 1983. The third Tropical cyclone naming, named storm, second hurricane, and first major hurricane of the 1970 Atlantic h ...

in the eastern Pacific Ocean and the south-southwesterly flow from a mid-to upper-level trough over the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...

, the area of disturbed weather tracked generally north-northwestward through the Caribbean Sea while spreading across Cuba and southern Florida. On June 24, a mid-level circulation developed near the

Yucatán Channel The Yucatán Channel or Straits of Yucatán (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Canal de Yucatán'') is a strait between Mexico and Cuba. It connects the Yucatán Basin of the Caribbean Sea with the Gulf of Mexico. It is just over wide and nearly deep ...

, and shortly thereafter satellite image loops indicated deep convection with some

cyclonic rotation Cyclonic rotation, or cyclonic circulation, is atmospheric motion in the same direction as a planet's rotation, as opposed to anticyclonic rotation. For Earth, the Coriolis effect causes cyclonic rotation to be in a counterclockwise direction in the ...

near the western tip of Cuba. A reconnaissance aircraft flight was dispatched late on June 24 into the system to determine if it developed into a

, though the flight did not observe evidence of a closed low-level circulation. Subsequent to the flight, satellite imagery indicated a low-level circulation was forming, and on June 25 ship and buoy data confirmed the system developed into Tropical Depression One while located about west-southwest of Key West, Florida. Operationally, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) incorrectly classified the system as Tropical Depression Two due to an earlier subtropical storm. Upon becoming a tropical cyclone, the depression was poorly organized, with much of the convection located well to the southeast of the broad center due to strong upper-level

. The shearing environment was caused by a trough in the Gulf of Mexico and from the outflow from Pacific Hurricane Celia. This was reflected in forecasts, with the National Hurricane Center predicting no significant change in intensity or structure. The depression moved northward before turning to the northeast, and on June 26 the poorly organized system made

just north of

. The low-level circulation dissipated while crossing the

Florida peninsula A peninsula ( la, paeninsula from ''paene'' "almost" and ''insula'' "island") is a piece of land that is bordered mostly by water but connected to mainland. The surrounding water is usually understood to be continuous, though not necessarily nam ...

, with the remnants continuing northeastward before being absorbed by a large extratropical cyclone over the western Atlantic.

Impact

The tropical depression, in combination with the upper-level trough to its west, produced moderate precipitation across Cuba, peaking at . This is the fifth highest known rainfall total from a tropical cyclone in the country. The rainfall primarily affected the provinces of

Pinar del Río Pinar del Río is the capital city of Pinar del Río Province, Cuba. With a population of 139,336 (2004) in a municipality of 190,332, it is the 10th-largest city in Cuba. Inhabitants of the area are called ''Pinareños''. History Pinar del R� ...

, Matanzas, and

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

. Two Cuban citizens were killed by the rainfall, with an Arab student reported missing and presumed drowned. The deluge damaged or destroyed hundreds of houses in Pinar del Río and Havana provinces. In Florida, the depression produced moderate winds near the coast, peaking at in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

. As in Cuba, the system dropped torrential rainfall, peaking at at Arcadia Tower. Large portions of the state reported totals in excess of from the depression, with much of Sarasota County receiving over of rain. The rainfall was classified as a

in Sarasota and

counties, where flooding reached deep in some locations. Officials in Manatee County declared a state of emergency in response to the flooding. There, about 3,000 people were forced to evacuate their homes due to the flooding, some of whom left by boat. The flooding damaged about 50 houses in and around

Oneco Oneco (sometimes called Owaneko) was a sachem of the Mohegans in the Connecticut Colony and the son of Uncas. During King Philip's War (1675–78) he distinguished himself as a battlefield commander and has been credited as one of the executioner ...

. Due to the evacuations, no injuries were reported. The Lake Manatee reservoir in Manatee County rose to over , above normal, which resulted in officials opening floodgates to mitigate potential flooding. In Sarasota County, the flooding closed several roads and led to many overflown creeks and rivers, including the Horse Creek which crested at above flood level. Damage to roads and bridges totaled about $1 million. Due to the flat landscape of the region, the flooding persisted for several days. The depression spawned a tornado in a mobile home park in

Nokomis Nokomis is the name of Nanabozho's grandmother in the Ojibwe traditional stories and was the name of Hiawatha's grandmother in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, ''The Song of Hiawatha'', which is a re-telling of the Nanabozho stories. Nokomis is ...

, destroying the roofs of five homes and causing leaks in twelve others. Throughout the area, the passage of the depression left about 45,000 customers without power, primarily due to gusty winds. The outages were fairly short-lived due to power companies calling in extra workers to restore the power. Moderate winds toppled a construction crane at the northern end of the

Sunshine Skyway Bridge The Bob Graham Sunshine Skyway Bridge, often referred to as the Sunshine Skyway Bridge or the Sunshine Skyway, consists of a pair of long beam bridges with a central cable-stayed bridge that spans Lower Tampa Bay to connect St. Petersburg, ...

, closing the bridge for 35 minutes before the crane was removed. In

Pinellas County Pinellas County (, ) is a county located on the west central coast of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 959,107. The county is part of the Tampa–St. Petersburg– Clearwater, Florida Metropolitan Statistical ...

, a man hydroplaned while driving along a flooded roadway; he crashed into a concrete pole and was killed. Severe crop damage to orange trees was reported in association with the flooding. Damage from the depression totaled over $2.6 million (1992 USD, $4 million 2008 USD), with about 4,000 houses affected by the flooding and an additional 70 destroyed. Two people were killed in Florida. On August 14, about six weeks after the flooding, President George H. W. Bush declared a major disaster area for

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

, DeSoto, Manatee, and Sarasota counties. The declaration allowed for the use of federal funding to assist in the aftermath of the system.

References

External links

NHC's archive on Tropical Depression One

NHC's Tropical Cyclone Report on Tropical Depression One
{{DEFAULTSORT:1 (1992) 01 1992 1992 Atlantic hurricane season 01 1992 01 1992

Meteorological history

Impact

See also

References

External links