2005 was a monster hurricane at that time it produced the most amount of named storms in a season. However, that was broken in 2020 when 30 named storms formed. 2005 hurricane season was dominated by a La Nina. It was also infamous for very destructive hurricanes. Hurricane Emily was the second destructive hurricane. Not only was Emily destructive but it was one of 4 category 5 hurricanes from 2005. Emily was also one of the strongest July hurricanes. Hard to believe its been 20 years ago.

A few days before July 11th a very impressive tropical wave moved off the African Coast. On July 11th the wave was declared a tropical depression. While it is not impossible to have named storms in the far Atlantic in July. Emily was considered early as most hurricanes develop in the far Atlantic in August to Mid October. On July 12th the tropical depression strengthened and was given the name Emily.

A few of the models kept Emily not as strong and would go over the mountain terrain of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. On the other hand, a few models kept Emily farther south strengthening into a significant hurricane. Instead of going northwest. Emily jogged to the south dodging the mountain terrain

Emily going farther south into a very favorable environment began to organize and strengthen. 2 days after developing into a tropical storm Emily became a hurricane on July 14th. Emily first made landfall as a high end category 1 hurricane on the Island of Grenada as an 85-90 mph hurricane. Once in the Caribbean Emily begin to strengthen even more.

High Pressure to the North kept Emily farther south allowing it to go over very warm water. On July 15th Emily became a major hurricane reaching category 3 strength with 120 mph winds. Th next Day Emily was a dangerous category 4 hurricane with winds up to 150 mph. On July 16th Emily became a category 5 hurricane with winds 160 mph. This made Emily one of the strongest hurricane's in July and an early forming category 5 hurricane. Only Last Years Hurricane Beryl, which formed in June, became a category 5 early. Most Category 5 hurricanes occur in August, September, or October.

Also on the 16th Emily's pressure bottomed out at 929 millibars. Due to under going an eye-wall replacement cycle Emily weakened just a bit. Although the hurricane was still a category 4 135 mph hurricane when it made landfall in Couzemel Mexico. Due to going over the Mountain Terrain of the Yucatan Emily emerged in the Southwest Gulf as a category 1 hurricane.

Due to very warm waters of the Gulf Emily became a major hurricane before its final landfall in Northwest Mexico. Emily's third landfall was at 125 mph a high end category 3 hurricane.

In Grenada Emily was believed to have killed 5 people and caused $400 million in damages. In Mexico Emily caused $1 Billion dollars worth of damage and 12 deaths. What kept Emily's damage total down was it missed very populated areas in Mexico. Had the storm jogged just 50 miles to the north or south of its landfall it would have hit major metro areas.

Still, Emily was destructive overall causing 22 deaths and $1.5 Billion dollars worth of damage. Despite the damage the name Emily was not retired. My professor thought Emily would be retired and as a student in Atmospheric Science I thought it would too along with Dennis, Katrina, Rita, Stan, and Wilma. However, it wasn't and the name still appears every 6 years for the Atlantic Basin.

So why was Emily not retired? Well Mexico is pretty strict on requesting retirement for hurricanes. Second, While Emily was more powerful than Hurricane Stan. Stan despite being a category 1 hurricane hit a major metro area that was surrounded by Mountains. Stan caused $2 Billion in damages and killed over 2,000 people in Mexico.

Next week will mark the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Emily. In my opinion Emily should have been retired due to its destruction. Me and my fellow Meteorologist are still appauled to this day that it was not. Emily was a historic storm because at that time it was the earliest forming category 5 hurricane until Beryl of last year that formed in June. Also it still remains the strongest July hurricane in the modern era with a pressure of 929 millibars and 160 mph winds. Emily which formed a week after Dennis was only a sign of things to come. As Emily was the 1st of 4 category 5 hurricanes in 2005 and the second of many destructive storms from that year.