Identifying Inland Impacts of Decaying Hurricanes Rita, Gustav, and Ike over Northern Louisiana and Northeast Texas

The impact of tropical systems on coastal communities is well documented, and has been the focus area that the majority of researchers have studied. This research paper looks at significant inland impacts that these decaying tropical systems are capable of producing as they move away from the coast. These decaying systems can still create destruction from strong winds, heavy rains, and even hard to forecast tornadoes that quickly form along feeder bands mainly in the northeast quadrant. The National Weather Service (NWS), Weather Forecast Office (WFO) in Shreveport Louisiana has been forecasting the weather conditions associated with these decaying tropical systems. Although many tropical systems were reviewed, three Hurricanes that impacted northeast Texas and northern Louisiana in 2005 (Hurricane Rita) and 2008 (Hurricanes Gustav and Ike) were the focus of this study. The study concludes that Hurricane Rita produced high winds far inland, Hurricane Ike produced winds and tornadoes, and Hurricane Gustav produced flooding. The study presents a correlation between the hurricane tracks and the location of the spawned tornadoes by using ArcGis. Data was obtained from the Advanced Hydrologic Service from the NWS, the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory: Surface Wind Analysis from NOAA, and the Geographic Information System (GIS) Graphical Database of Tornado, Large Hail, and Damaging Wind Reports in the United States from the NWS. The maps were created with ArcGIS.