Topic: Hurricane Felix

Hurricane Felix was a destructive Category 5 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale, that struck Central America in 2007. It was the sixth named storm, second hurricane, and second Category 5 hurricane of the 2007 Atlantic hurricane season. Felix formed from a tropical wave on August 31, passing through the southern Windward Islands on September 1 before strengthening to attain hurricane status. A day later it rapidly strengthened into a major hurricane, and early on September 3 it was upgraded to Category 5 status; by 2100 UTC, the hurricane was downgraded to Category 4 status, but was upgraded to a Category 5 hurricane for a second time by the morning of September 4.

On September 4, Felix made landfall just south of the border between Nicaragua and Honduras, in a region historically known as the Mosquito Coast as a Category 5 hurricane with 160 mph (260 km/h) winds, exactly half a month after Dean hit Mexico at that strength. Hurricane Felix struck Nicaragua on the same day as Hurricane Henriette struck the Baja California Peninsula in the eastern Pacific Ocean, which marked the second recorded occurrence that an Atlantic hurricane and a Pacific hurricane made landfall on the same day; the previous occurrence was on August 23, 1992, when Hurricane Andrew hit the Bahamas on the same day Hurricane Lester hit Mexico's Baja California Peninsula. At least 133 deaths are attributed to Felix.

A tropical wave moved off the coast of Africa on August 24, tracking westward at approximately 14 mph (23 km/h) with no associated deep convection and a weak low-level inverted-V curvature. Initially difficult to locate on satellites, the wave axis tracked through a moist environment and developed an area of scattered thunderstorms. By August 25 visible satellite imagery indicated broad cyclonic turning just north of the Intertropical Convergence Zone. The wave continued to develop moderate to strong convection, and on August 27 a 1012 mbar (hPa; 29.88 inHg) low pressure area developed about 830 mi (1,340 km) west-southwest of Praia, Cape Verde. For the next several days the system failed to organize significantly; however, on August 30 the wave became better defined with more representation of the cyclonic turning into the low. Convection increased early the next day, and a Hurricane Hunters flight into the system reported the presence of a closed low-level circulation; accordingly, the National Hurricane Center initiated advisories on Tropical Depression Six at 2100 UTC on August 31 while it was located about 180 mi (295 km) east-southeast of the southern Windward Islands.