Impact Other wikis The meteorological history of Hurricane Dean began in the second week of August 2007 when a vigorous tropical wave moved off the west coast of Africa into the North Atlantic ocean.

Although the wave initially experienced strong easterly wind shear, it quickly moved into an environment better suited for tropical development and gained organization.

On the morning of August 13, the National Hurricane Center recognized the system's organization and designated it Tropical Depression Four while it was still more than 1,500 mi (2,400 km) east of the Lesser Antilles.

Weakening slightly, it brushed the southern coast of Jamaica on August 19 as a Category 4 hurricane and continued towards the Yucatán Peninsula through even warmer waters.

The favorable conditions of the western Caribbean Sea allowed the storm to intensify and it regained Category 5 status the next day before making landfall in southern Quintana Roo.

[19] At 0930 UTC on August 17, the center of Hurricane Dean passed into the Caribbean Sea through the Saint Lucia Channel between the islands of Martinique and St.

[11] By this time the eyewall had closed, forming a distinct eye,[20] and in an environment of low wind shear and increasing ocean temperature the hurricane began to intensify rapidly.

[32] Hurricane Dean intensified through the night of August 19[34] and reinforced its completed eyewall replacement cycle by forming a tight single-walled eye.

[35] At 0100 UTC August 20, the storm passed 120 mi (190 km) to the south of Sea Buoy 42056, which recorded a significant wave height of 36 ft (11 m).

In conditions of low wind shear, Hurricane Dean moved westward over waters with increasingly high heat content, and the storm exhibited a classic upper-tropospheric outflow pattern.

[11] The landfall itself occurred in a sparsely populated area of the Costa Maya region of the Mexican state of Quintana Roo near 18.7 N 87.8 W at 0900 UTC August 21 and brought with it a storm surge of 12–18 ft (3.7–5.5 m).

Its inner core was largely disrupted,[11] so although a ragged eye reformed over the warm waters of the bay,[45] the hurricane no longer had the structure to support its previous strength.

[11][47] The storm's strengthening pattern continued until Hurricane Dean made its second and final landfall at 1630 UTC August 22 near Tecolutla, Veracruz, just east of Gutiérrez Zamora and about 40 mi (65 km) south-southeast of Tuxpan.

[49] Hurricane Dean's remnant low pressure system then drifted north into southern California, bringing thunderstorms to northern San Diego County, and more than 2 in (5 cm) of rain to Lake Wohlford.