Jonathan Erdman
You can track Ian here or sign up for the Morning Brief email newsletter to get weekday updates from The Weather Channel and our meteorologists.
Hurricane Ian will go down as one of the most intense hurricanes to landfall in the United States. Even by Florida hurricane standards, there were some aspects to Ian that were stunning to meteorologists.
Almost Category 5
Ian was on the doorstep of Category 5 status just an hour before its center came ashore on a barrier island west of Fort Myers. It narrowly missed becoming only the fifth Category 5 hurricane to landfall in the mainland U.S.
By wind speed, it still tied the fifth-strongest hurricane landfall in the mainland U.S., according to Colorado State University tropical scientist Phil Klotzbach.
Exact Same Landfall Location As Charley
In a bizarre coincidence, Ian’s first Florida landfall location, Cayo Costa, a barrier island west of Fort Myers, was exactly the same location as Hurricane Charley in 2004.
If that wasn’t strange enough, Ian also had the exact same wind speed at landfall as Charley, 150 mph. Its pressure was only 1 millibar lower than Charley and it made landfall, like Charley, in mid-afternoon.
Of course, Ian was a much larger storm that also moved slower than Charley, leading to heavier rain, higher surge and more prolonged winds than Charley.
Record Surge For Some
The National Hurricane Center was forecasting a peak storm surge of 12 to 18 feet for parts of southwest Florida. At least two locations set new surge records.
In Naples, a peak surge of just over 6 feet topped the previous record from Hurricane Irma by almost 2 feet. In Downtown Fort Myers, surge of just over 7 feet obliterated the previous record by almost 4 feet.
Surge closer to the coast in Fort Myers Beach and Sanibel Island was likely higher than these gauge measurements, as suggested by the location of this surge probe.
Ian may have generated the highest storm surge for this section of southwest Florida in living memory, Jeff Masters and Bob Henson wrote in a piece for Yale Climate Connections.
Coastal Devastation
The combination of storm surge and extreme winds left behind devastation that, despite seen in other locations taking strikes from similar hurricanes, still left meteorologists stunned.
The Sanibel Causeway, the only link from the mainland to Sanibel and Captiva islands, was breached in five places, and sections of pavement were scoured from the ground, something meteorologists usually only see in the most violent tornadoes or strong hurricanes. The surge even swept away the buildings around the Sanibel Lighthouse.
Then there’s the devastation in Fort Myers Beach, including some properties with only vacant slabs remaining and trees stripped of their vegetation, similar to the devastation in Mexico Beach, Florida, after Hurricane Michael in 2018.
Magnitude Of Winds
Sometimes, it’s hard to find actual measurements on land of winds matching the magnitude of a hurricane’s maximum sustained winds at landfall.
With Ian, though, we had several gusts over 100 mph, including a 140 mph gust near Cape Coral and a 135 mph gust in Punta Gorda.
There was even a 115 mph sustained wind – which is an average of winds over a one-minute period – measured on land at a private weather station in Port Charlotte.
Tampa Bay Blowout
Because the center of Ian made landfall south of Tampa Bay, winds on the north side of its circulation pushed water out of Tampa Bay, which is something known as a blowout tide.
This exposed the bed of the bay, including along Bayshore Boulevard. At Wednesday afternoon’s high tide, water levels were about 2 feet below the normal low tide at Port Manatee, near the mouth of Tampa Bay.
A similar thing happened in Tampa Bay during Hurricane Irma in 2017.
Record River Flooding
Ian wrung out up to 21 inches of rain in the Florida Peninsula, with rain rates up to 3 inches per hour. That not only sent some rivers into major flood, but also topped some all-time records.
For example, the Peace River at both Arcadia and Zolfo Springs smashed their previous record crests by over 2 feet. The record at Arcadia had stood since 1912. Arcadia was left inaccessible by vehicle due to the magnitude of the flooding.
Perhaps most bizarre, two days after Ian swept through, 500 residents of North Port, Florida, north of Port Charlotte, were forced to evacuate as floodwaters rose, likely draining from areas outside of town. Over 19 inches of rain fell in the city during Ian.
Orlando Rain Record, Massive Flooding
Perhaps the most stunning rainfall flood aspect of Ian in Florida was in the Orlando metro area.
Orlando smashed its all-time 24-hour rainfall record, picking up 12.49 inches from 8 a.m. Wednesday through 8 a.m. Thursday. That’s like picking up two full Septembers' worth of rain in 24 hours. That triggered widespread flooding in the metro area.
Osceola County Fire Rescue spokesman Andrew Sullivan told the Orlando Sentinel that Ian produced unprecedented flooding in the county. Residents from flooded hotels, apartments and assisted living facilities were rescued. Floodwater surrounded HCA Florida Osceola Hospital in Kissimmee.
St. Augustine Flooding Was Worse Than Matthew
Northeast Florida also took a pounding from Ian.
Storm surge flooding in St. Augustine matched or topped levels seen there during Hurricane Matthew in 2016, according to local fire-rescue crews and broadcast media.
The surge also pushed into Marineland and the Whitney Lab Buildings in Flagler County and up the St. Johns River.
Daytona Beach recorded wind gusts above 60 mph for just over 12 hours from early morning to early afternoon on Sept. 29.
The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.
The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.
No comments:
Post a Comment