Hurricane Andrew
August 24, 1992
My first tropical cyclone was Category 5 hurricane Andrew. I remember very little
from it, besides the video my dad has of it. Up here in Broward, it wasnt that
bad. We lost about 30 trees here. Perhaps some cat 1 winds. But, in Southern
Dade it was absolutely catastrophic. Below is the radar image of
Andrew at landfall, as well as a satellite image. The thing was like a buzz saw.
Andrew was a very small, and wound up hurricane. All major hurricane force winds
were confined to the eyewall basically. Hurricane force winds did not make it
north of the I-595 corridor in Broward. This can be seen by the total damage
report from Andrew. 25 billion worth of damage in Dade, 0.1 billion in Broward.
Also, here are the wind observations. peak gust of 142 kt at NHC!
I have heard stories about how bad Andrew was in the bullseye. Most say it was like
the house was in a wind tunnel, everything was shaking violently, and
eventually destroyed. Most houses were very weak to begin with due to very
low building codes. The parts of Dade fully affected by Andrew have never
recovered. Most victims gave up entirely on their houses and left north, for
Broward. Building codes were changed after that, to prevent it from happening
again. Shutters also started to be used.
Hurricane Georges
September 25, 1998
Fast forward 6 years for the next tropical cyclone to affect my area. This was
Hurricane Georges. It wasn't very memorable here, besides the panic it caused. I
remember we put up shutters for it, the NHC seemed pretty certain it was
going to affect us bad. However, it missed to the south. No real damage here.
The keys did get some pretty bad conditions, with 96 kt reported on Marathon.
Up here it was a rainy, breezy day. Below is the satellite image of it.
Tropical Storm Mitch
November 5, 1998
Mitch was one of the worst hurricanes in history for Central America. However, it had
practically dissipated by the time it made it back over water in the Gulf Of
Mexico. It still managed to strengthen to modest tropical storm strength
though by landfall in South Florida, its strength was 55 kt. Below is the satellite
image of it before landfall here. It was a weakening, and almost extra tropical
storm. Top wind gusts recorded were barely tropical storm force across my
area. I think a branch fell due to it.
Hurricane Floyd
September 13, 1999
Hurricane Floyd was nearly the worst case scenario for Florida. It caused a massive
panic, the thing was monstrous and got very close to shore. If the front
had delayed another few hours, it would have been a very different story
than it was for South Florida. It turned out to be quite a nice day as the
subsidence from Floyd impacted the region. (Left is Floyd, right Andrew.)
Tropical Storm Harvey
September 21, 1999
Tropical Storm Harvey was almost like a Mitch repeat in South Florida. It was quite
exciting to track though, and it was fun to see the "eye" come in from the
Everglades. Winds were minimal tropical storm force at worst. Quite a bit of rain
did occur though, which set up for the Irene disaster. Below is a satellite
image of the storm as it was organizing. It was one of those pop up cyclones,
which form and hit land in a relatively short amount of time.
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Hurricane Irene
October 15, 1999
Hurricane Irene was a surprise storm to most. Even a day or so before the storm, all
models showed it hitting south west Florida. Irene instead went right into the
South East metro areas. No hurricane force winds occurred in my area, they
were limited to offshore. Winds here were probably 60 mph, alot of debri was
thrown around outside, and a tree was uprooted. Below is a satellite image of
Irene, and track.
The real story with Irene though, was rain. Extreme rains occurred across southeast
Florida. Low lying neighborhoods were completely under water. Over here, flood
waters were about 4 feet below the house, and were on a 6 foot man
made hill to boot. I never have seen rain like that since. Below is a precipitation
map for Irene, and a radar snapshot of a movie I have on my
computer.
Hurricane Charley
August 13, 2005
Hurricane Charley was a sign of things to come. It spared my area of South Florida
but, destroyed northwest coast of South Florida. It was comparable to Andrew in
size. Despite Punta Gorda receiving major hurricane winds, I recorded winds
of only 30 mph at most here. Some leaves were blown off and such. Below is a
satellite image really illustrating how small Charley was.
Hurricane Frances
September 5, 2004
Hurricane Frances did have a significant impact here. The time span of the storm was
incredible, It just sat there and spinned. We had perhaps 2 days of winds
up to 60 mph. The trees were messed up pretty bad, but, the wind only
destroyed the far east side of the forest. The storm occurred during my Dad's
birthday, so we went outside and had a barbecue anyways. Winds were tropical
storm force while we were eating. The storm lasted so long it started to
get rather boring, even for someone like me. Below is a radar image of
Frances as it was lashing Florida, and an HWIND map of it is below that.
Hurricane Jeanne
September 26, 2004
Hurricane Jeanne was a Frances repeat. Same landfall location, same effects. It was
really tiring to have to deal with a hurricane again, after Frances. Below is a
landfall loop of Jeanne, hitting the exact spot Frances did 2 weeks before.
Hurricane Katrina
August 24, 2005
Hurricane Katrina was not much of a storm here for those outside of the eyewall.
However, I was in the eyewall. Winds of minimal hurricane force roared
through, uprooting trees and making a huge mess overall. I was standing
outside during it, which was fun. I had to get behind the house though during the
worst of it. The debris were going too fast to stand in. Another thing I
remember about Katrina was how it rapidly formed near us. Really an
interesting thing to watch. If that thing had 6 more hours, we couldve had a
major hurricane on our hands. Check out the structure of it!
Tropical Storm Ernesto
August 30, 2006
Ernesto went directly over my area but, lacked a core. It turned out to be a breezy
day. Below is a radar image of the tropical storm while it was over me.
Absolutely nothing at the core.
I think that covers the tropical cyclones in my life pretty well. And now the saga
continues...
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