Track of Franklin (2023)

Instructions

On August 17, the NHC noted the possibility of the formation of a disturbance on the back end of a trough of low pressure as it headed westward towards the Leeward Islands. The low formed on August 19, near the Windward Islands. It soon formed a well-defined center, after which the NHC designated the system as Tropical Storm Franklin on the afternoon of August 20. While moving through the eastern Caribbean over the next couple of days, Franklin struggled to become better organized while battling strong westerly wind shear pushing most of the convection east of its center. Early on August 23, the storm began moving northwestward before turning northward, becoming somewhat better organized and intensifying. Franklin then made landfall with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph (80 km/h) south of Barahona, Dominican Republic, shortly before 12:00 UTC that day. Weakening occurred after Franklin made landfall, and it emerged into the Atlantic Ocean at 21:00 UTC as a minimal tropical storm. After struggling with strong westerly shear and land interaction for several days, Franklin entered a more favorable environment for development on August 25 and promptly intensified into a Category 1 hurricane the next morning. A further decrease in wind shear along with less dry air allowed Franklin to begin to rapidly intensify, becoming the season's first major hurricane at 09:00 UTC on August 28. Franklin then began to intensify even more rapidly, quickly becoming a Category 4 hurricane a few hours later and then reaching its peak maximum sustained winds of 150 mph (240 km/h). After that, Franklin underwent an eyewall replacement cycle, causing it to begin to slowly weaken. That trend continued after the cycle was completed as wind shear from the outflow from Hurricane Idalia increased over Franklin and by 09:00 UTC on August 30, it had weakened to Category 2 strength. Later that day, Franklin turned east-northeastward and passed north of Bermuda. While doing so, the storm's eye structure began to deteriorate due to strong northerly wind shear. Then, on September 1, Franklin transitioned into an extratropical cyclone about 790 mi (1,270 km) northeast of Bermuda, with Category 1-equivalent winds of 85 mph (140 km/h). By September 4, ex‑Franklin was located north of the Azores. That afternoon, the NHC began to monitor the system once again, as it was expected to soon move southeastward towards warmer waters. Franklin brought heavy rainfall and wind, causing damage to buildings, homes, and light posts. Two fatalities were reported in the Dominican Republic, with an additional person also missing. At least 350 people were displaced, and more than 500 homes and 2,500 roads were affected or damaged. Several communities in the Dominican Republic were cut off, and nearly 350,000 homes were left without power, and an additional 1.6 million homes were cut off from potable water.