Hi all and welcome to Hurricane Season 2014. The forecast for this year is projected to be an average to slightly below average season for the Atlantic. This forecast is due to a phenomena known as El Nino. El Nino is a warming of the tropical Pacific that affects the weather across the globe. Normally this scenario will help to suppress the formation of storms by creating strong trade winds that blow across the Atlantic.
Do not count on a slow season even if the forecast calls for it. Just 10 years ago during an El Nino year, Florida was hit with hurricanes Charlie, Jeanne, Francis and Ivan. It was the first time since record keeping began that something like this has happened. These storms were some of the costliest storms in hurricane history. We had 4 storms within a 6 week time span. Every part of Florida was affected. No one was immune.
Take advantage of the tax holiday. Stock up this week and be ready. You never know when a tropical system is going to come knocking on your door. This applies to everybody living along the East Coast or the Gulf Coast. Those folks in the north are not immune, as Sandy clearly demonstrated. Everyone needs to be ready. This cannot be stressed enough. That also includes areas as far north as New England.
We certainly hope that the forecast for a slow season is correct and that the High pressure ridge is in a favorable position to keep storms that do form off of our doorstep but if one slips through the cracks, we want to be ready.
I remember 2004 well. I was working at the Stuart Sears Essentials and it was a Friday the 13th of August. Charlie was the named storm and almost all the forecast models had it moving towards the Tampa Bay area. It was a relatively small category 2 storm at the time. Suddenly with little warning the system went into rapid intensification and blossomed into a cat 4 hurricane within 2 hours! If that was not bad enough, the storm made a hard right turn into the west coast of Florida near Punta Gorda. This was the worst case scenario that anybody could imagine. The only good news is that the storm only had a 10 mile wide eye. Many were caught off guard as they thought the system would miss them and move up the coast to Tampa. Charlie destroyed everything in his path. He then took an unprecedented path right up the spine of Florida.Charlie destroyed small towns in the center of the state as he marched towards Orlando.
After Charlie, Ivan became a threat for the state but stayed offshore the west coast and headed towards the Panhandle. Then came the twin storms of Jeanne and Francis. These 2 storms hit almost the exact same spot within a 3 week time frame. Hurricane Jeanne stalled over the Treasure Coast and lashed the region with cat 2 winds for almost 2 days. The effects were similar to that of a larger storm that would of came and went quickly.
As if everybody thought it was finally over, we were again at risk from Jeanne almost exactly 3 weeks later almost to the hour. The Treasure Coast was again being lashed by a large hurricane. It appears that the 25 year dry spell was totally over. We evacuated twice within a 3 week time period. Both times we went to Naples and just prayed that the system did not make a southerly jog and follow us.
Even though it was an El Nino year 2004 broke the record books for Florida. 4 storms in 6 weeks. Not a single part of Florida was untouched.
Enjoy your summer and keep your eye on the sky. We hope everybody has a safe 2014 hurricane season.
