Tropical Storm Selma was the first tropical storm on record to make

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 ...

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

, and only the second Pacific tropical cyclone to attain tropical storm strength east of 90°W, the other being Alma of 2008. The twentieth tropical cyclone and eighteenth named storm of the

2017 Pacific hurricane season The 2017 Pacific hurricane season was significantly less active than the previous three Pacific hurricane seasons, featuring eighteen named storms, nine hurricanes, and four major hurricanes. Despite the considerable amount of activity, most of t ...

, Selma formed from a Central American gyre on October 27. The storm tracked northeastward and reached its peak intensity as a minimal tropical storm before making

east of

San Salvador, El Salvador San Salvador (; ) is the capital and the largest city of El Salvador and its eponymous department. It is the country's political, cultural, educational and financial center. The Metropolitan Area of San Salvador, which comprises the capital ...

early on October 28. Selma rapidly weakened after making landfall, and its remnant circulation dissipated overland at 18:00 UTC on the same day. In anticipation of the storm's arrival, tropical storm warnings and watches were issued for the coast of El Salvador and the Pacific coast of

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

. Heavy rainfall associated with the storm and a

cold front A cold front is the leading edge of a cooler mass of air at ground level that replaces a warmer mass of air and lies within a pronounced surface trough of low pressure. It often forms behind an extratropical cyclone (to the west in the Norther ...

resulted in flash-flooding and

mudslides A mudflow or mud flow is a form of mass wasting involving fast-moving flow of debris that has become liquified by the addition of water. Such flows can move at speeds ranging from 3 meters/minute to 5 meters/second. Mudflows contain a significa ...

that caused minor damage in El Salvador. The storm also caused 17 fatalities in

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

and

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...

, where heavy rainfall caused flooding and mudslides as 13 rivers topped their banks.

Meteorological history

A Central American

Gyre In oceanography, a gyre () is any large system of circulating ocean currents, particularly those involved with large wind movements. Gyres are caused by the Coriolis effect; planetary vorticity, horizontal friction and vertical friction determin ...

— the same one that spawned

Tropical Storm Philippe The name Philippe has been used for four tropical cyclones in the Atlantic Ocean. * Hurricane Philippe (2005) – a Category 1 hurricane that stayed out in Atlantic Ocean * Hurricane Philippe (2011) – a Category 1 hurricane that never impacted a ...

in the Atlantic basin — formed over

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. ...

on October 24. A small area of disturbed weather developed in the wake of the gyre over the eastern

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

off the coasts of

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

and

late on October 25. Satellite data indicated that the disturbance had developed a well-defined center of circulation around 18:00 UTC on October 26. By 00:00 UTC the following day, deep convection had become sufficiently organized within the disturbance, and it strengthened into a tropical depression. At 06:00 UTC, the depression strengthened into Tropical Storm ''Selma''. After being classified as a tropical storm, Selma turned to the north-northwest in the flow between a mid-level

ridge A ridge or a mountain ridge is a geographical feature consisting of a chain of mountains or hills that form a continuous elevated crest for an extended distance. The sides of the ridge slope away from the narrow top on either side. The line ...

to its northeast and a

trough Trough may refer to: In science * Trough (geology), a long depression less steep than a trench * Trough (meteorology), an elongated region of low atmospheric pressure * Trough (physics), the lowest point on a wave * Trough level (medicine), the l ...

over the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, 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 ...

. A compact tropical cyclone, Selma was initially expected to strengthen due to warm waters and light to moderate

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 horizontal ...

in its path, but the cyclone ended up strengthening little after northeasterly wind shear strengthened, which also caused most of the deep convection to be displaced to the southwest of the storm's center. At around 11:00 UTC on October 28, Selma made landfall near

Playa El Pimental Playa (plural playas) may refer to: Landforms * Endorheic basin, also known as a sink, alkali flat or sabkha, a desert basin with no outlet which periodically fills with water to form a temporary lake * Dry lake, often called a ''playa'' in the so ...

in El Salvador with maximum sustained winds of 40 mph (65 km/h). The storm rapidly weakened to a tropical depression over the rugged terrain of El Salvador, and by 18:00 UTC the same day, the circulation of Selma had completely dissipated.

Preparations and impact

Upon the NHC classifying Selma as a tropical storm, the

Government of El Salvador The Government of El Salvador is a presidential representative democratic republic. The seat of the central government is in San Salvador. Executive branch President of El Salvador El Salvador elects its head of state, the President of El Sal ...

issued a tropical storm warning for the entire coast of El Salvador. At 16:00 UTC the same day, the

Government of Guatemala Politics of Guatemala takes place in a framework of a presidential system, presidential representative democracy, representative democratic republic, where by the President of Guatemala is both head of state, head of government, and of a multi-pa ...

issued a tropical storm watch for the Pacific coast of Guatemala. Heavy rainfall caused by Selma and a cold front resulted in flooding and numerous mudslides in El Salvador, although damages were relatively minor. In

, heavy rainfall caused flooding and landslides that affected some 38,000 people and 3,500 homes, as well as causing the banks of 13 rivers to overflow. According to figures from the Permanent Commission of Contingencies of Honduras (Copeco), 37,552 people were evacuated due to the heavy rains, and 3,200 people were placed in shelters due to life-threatening flooding caused by the storm. In the aftermath following the storm, the

civil protection Civil defense ( en, region=gb, civil defence) or civil protection is an effort to protect the citizens of a state (generally non-combatants) from man-made and natural disasters. It uses the principles of emergency operations: prevention, miti ...

agency of Honduras distributed over 24,000 kilograms of food to residents affected by the flooding caused by the storm. In

, 10 deaths were linked to flooding caused by heavy rainfall from Selma. 42 homes were damaged by floodwaters after the Tuma and the

Río Grande de Matagalpa Río Grande de Matagalpa (, ''Awaltara'' in Miskito, ''Ucumulalí'' in Matagalpa) is a river of Nicaragua. Running from its source near Matagalpa to the Caribbean Sea in the northern part of the South Caribbean Autonomous Region it is the second ...

rivers rose above

flood stage Flood stage is the water level or stage at which the surface of a body of water has risen to a sufficient level to cause sufficient inundation of areas that are not normally covered by water, causing an inconvenience or a threat to life and property ...

in the

Chinandega Department Chinandega () is a department in Nicaragua, located on the border with Honduras. It covers an area of 4,822 km2 and has a population of 441,897 (2021 estimate). The capital is the city of Chinandega. Largely agricultural, it produces rum fr ...

, where 102 families and nearly 1,000 people were evacuated. In the weeks following the storm, hundreds of

sea turtle Sea turtles (superfamily Chelonioidea), sometimes called marine turtles, are reptiles of the order Testudines and of the suborder Cryptodira. The seven existing species of sea turtles are the flatback, green, hawksbill, leatherback, loggerhead, ...

carcasses were found in

Jiquilisco Bay The Jiquilisco Bay Biosphere Reserve is located on the southeast Pacific coast of El Salvador, in the department of Usulután. Jiquilisco Bay's mangrove-lined inlets and bay host the largest abundance of coastal-marine birds in the El Salvador, ma ...

. Biologists from the

University of El Salvador The University of El Salvador or Universidad de El Salvador (UES) is the oldest and the most prominent university institution in El Salvador. It serves as the national university of the country. The main campus, Ciudad Universitaria, is located ...

determined that the cause of death of these turtles was consumption of toxic

microalgae Microalgae or microphytes are microscopic algae invisible to the naked eye. They are phytoplankton typically found in freshwater and marine systems, living in both the water column and sediment. They are unicellular species which exist indiv ...

in a

red tide A harmful algal bloom (HAB) (or excessive algae growth) is an algal bloom that causes negative impacts to other organisms by production of natural phycotoxin, algae-produced toxins, mechanical damage to other organisms, or by other means. HABs are ...

algae bloom An algal bloom or algae bloom is a rapid increase or accumulation in the population of algae in Fresh water, freshwater or Ocean, marine water systems. It is often recognized by the discoloration in the water from the algae's pigments. The term ...

References

External links

Tropical Storm Selma Advisory Archive
{{2017 Pacific hurricane season buttons

Selma Selma may refer to: Places *Selma, Algeria *Selma, Nova Scotia, Canada *Selma, Switzerland, village in the Grisons United States: *Selma, Alabama, city in Dallas County, best known for the Selma to Montgomery marches *Selma, Arkansas *Selma, Cali ...

Selma 2017

Hurricanes in El Salvador

Meteorological history

Preparations and impact

See also

References

External links