PART II: METEOROLOGICAL DISCUSSION 
5. Hurricane Alicia was the first storm of the 1983 hurricane season. 
Alicia was classed as minimal category 3 at landfall on the Saffer-Simpson 
scale which ranges from 1 to 5. Alicia was an unusual system because it 
formed in a region of high pressure, about 1015 mb,* which probably contrib- 
uted to the storm's development out of an otherwise not very intense low 
pressure system. At about midday on 16 August the system began to deepen and 
continued to do so for the 40 hr remaining before landfall. 
6. Alicia was officially classed as a hurricane at 0000 Greenwich 
mean time (GMT) 17 August 1983. Central pressure was 991 mb with maximum sus- 
tained winds of 75 mph. The hurricane continued to intensify until it made 
landfall at the western tip of Galveston Island, Texas, at approximately 0700 
GMT 18 August. Central pressure was 963 mb with maximum sustained winds of 
about 115 mph. Table 1 is the best track information available as of 
February 1984. Radar imagery indicates Alicia may have developed a double-eye 
structure subsequent to landfall. The two eyes probably did not always exist 
simultaneously, thereby causing the hurricane track to appear very erratic if 
eye position is used to determine the track. Use of a mass field envelope 
technique will probably result in a much smoother track. After moving north 
of Houston, Alicia weakened steadily and was classed as a tropical depression 
at 0600 GMT 19 August. Figure 1 shows the approximate track of Alicia. 
* A table of factors for converting inch-pound units of measurement to metric 
(SI) units is presented on page 3. 
