Hurricane Ivan

[Perfection]

So it just kinda fell apart?

 

[Quasar1011]

...only two Category 5 hurricanes have ever made landfall (Camille in 1969 and Andrew in 1992).

In the continental United States, yes. But Mitch hit Honduras in 1998, and Gilbert hit the Cayman Islands in 1988; both were category 5 at the time. And someone else mentioned the Labor Day hurricane of 1935, which struck the Florida Keys.

 

[Quasar1011]

So it just kinda fell apart?

Joan had enough intensity to keep its "named" status, but only as a tropical storm. It dissipated after a fairly lengthy time in both ocean basins. So Joan/Miriam was the same storm.

 

[King PJ]

Never seen one. just ice, snow, and below 0 weather.

I'd rather a hurricane hit me every week than to live in below 0 weather.

 

[stormbind]

I think he means one that appears in the Gulf, then crosses Mexico into the Pacific. I think the mountains in Mexico would kill the hurricane, but maybe not if it was Category 4-5.

He, has a name *sniffle*

Thanks everyone, especially Quasar1011, for posting those interesting paths. Were there any other really quirky storms?

 

[Joey_Ramone]

Did we skip G and H for the names, or did I miss out on two minor storms in the last week?

Tropical Storm "Gastone" (what a wussy name) hit us here in Richmond, VA about a week ago. I didn't even know what was going on because I was hanging out with friends and not watching TV till one of our friends called and said he was stranded on top of the pizza place surrounded by water. It hit really bad like 3 miles from here because they're on low ground, but all we got here was rain.

 

[PantheraTigris2]

So it just kinda fell apart?

Don't tease me like that! I opened up to the top of this page to see what the latest impending doom/update discussion on Ivan is... and I see your post at the top. Man! I was so excited there for a moment...

 

[Quasar1011]

Ah, yet another advantage of living in the North East. No Hurricanes.

Please note that 4 of the "greatest" hurricanes of the 1900s, hit New England (1938, 1960, 1985, 1991):

Great Storms of the 20th Century
Over 500 hurricanes have ruffled the waters of the Atlantic during the 20th century, and the selection of a short list of the most interesting is not an easy one. Here's a few of the more extreme and/or unusual storms since 1900:

Andrew 1992 $25 billion damage to South Florida, then on into Louisiana
Andrew was a small and ferocious Cape Verde hurricane that wrought unprecedented economic devastation along a path through the Bahamas, southern Florida, and Louisiana. Damage in the United States is estimated to be over $25 billion, making Andrew the most expensive natural disaster in U.S. history. The tropical cyclone struck southern Dade County, Florida, especially hard, with violent winds (177 m.p.h. on the ground and 195 m.p.h. measured by a "Hurricane Hunter" aircraft) and storm surges characteristic of a category 4 hurricane on the Saffir/Simpson Hurricane Scale, and with a central pressure (922 mb) that is the third lowest this century for a hurricane at landfall in the United States. In Dade County alone, the forces of Andrew resulted in 15 deaths, destroyed 25,000 homes, and left up to one-quarter million people left homeless.
Click here to see an illustrated report on Andrew.

Betsy 1965 The first billion-dollar hurricane
Betsy blasted the southern tip of Florida, then scored a direct hit on New Orleans.

Bob 1991 Walloped Cape Cod

Camille 1969 Most powerful storm to hit the U.S. Mainland
Camille, the most powerful hurricane ever to strike the U.S. mainland, stormed out of the Gulf of Mexico and onto the Mississippi coast. Around the eyewall, winds estimated as high at 200 m.p.h. gave the storm the force of a 20-mile-wide tornado. Damage was incredible, with buildings wiped clean from their foundations. Three days later the weakened remains of the storm suddenly unleashed torrential downpours on the mountains of western Virginia. Overnight rainfalls of up to 31 inches washed away entire hamlets. Nearly 300 people died from this storm, half of them in Virginia.

Carla 1961 A monster Texas cyclone
One of the largest hurricanes ever seen, mighty Hurricane Carla stormed ashore 100 miles west of Galveston, Texas, site of the deadly 1900 storm. Hurricane-force winds whipped the entire Texas coast, with Port Lavaca enduring 175 m.p.h. gusts. Although Carla was much bigger and stronger than the Galveston hurricane, it caused far fewer fatalities. But like the 1900 storm, Carla brought torrential rains to the Midwest (6 inches in Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin).

Debbie 1961 An Irish hurricane
Hurricane Debbie, born off the west coast of Africa, remained unusually far east in the Atlantic on a path that took it into the west coast of Ireland. Winds as high as 106 m.p.h. killed 11 on the Emerald Isle and caused heavy damage across Great Britain. Remnants of the storm were tracked into Russia.

Donna 1960 Hurricane force winds from Florida to Maine
Hurricane Donna went on a nine-day rampage through Puerto Rico and the Bahamas, across the Florida Keys into the Gulf of Mexico, back across Florida into the Atlantic, and up the coast, crossing North Carolina's Outer Banks before slamming into Long Island. Hurricane force winds were recorded in every seaboard state from Florida to Maine, except Georgia, with peak gusts of 175 m.p.h. in the Florida Everglades and 130 m.p.h. at Block Island, Rhode Island. While crossing Long Island, Donna's enormous eye was 100 miles wide.

Faith 1966 Longest Hurricane track
Hurricane Faith, a classic Cape Verde storm, spent 18 days traversing its great arc across the Atlantic. Twice it threatened land - the Virgin Islands and the Carolinas - but veered away both times. Finally, on September 6, after travelling 8,000 miles over open water, Faith came ashore near Trondheim, Norway. One person drowned when a ferry boat sank near Denmark. Remnants of this long-lived storm were tracked another 9 days and 2,700 miles, crossing northwestern Russia and finally dissipating over the ice a mere 300 miles from the North Pole.

Floyd 1999 Disastrous flooding in North Carolina, and record rains in the Northeast U.S.

Galveston 1900 The worst natural disaster in U.S. history
After skimming the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Cuba, this storm gathered strength during a 3-day trek across the steamy waters of the Gulf of Mexico. As it approached the Texas shoreline on the afternoon of the 8th its winds were in excess of 120 m.p.h. Its target was the prosperous coastal resort and business center of Galveston. The center of the hurricane passed just south of Galveston on the evening of Saturday, September 8, and the storm surge swallowed almost the entire city. Dawn found the city in ruins, with 6,000 to 10,000 of its 40,000 citizens dead, and most of the rest homeless. It was by far the worst meteorological calamity - or any natural disaster - in U.S. history. Once over Texas, the storm began losing some of its punch, but it refused to die. The weather map on September 10 showed a remarkable feature - a tropical storm over Kansas! As the tropical storm entered Iowa, it merged with a cold front to produce a hybrid low pressure system. The storm then dumped 8 inches of rain on Minnesota, lashed Chicago with 72 m.p.h. winds, sank 22 fishing boats along the coast of Newfoundland. It finally died over the polar ice north of Iceland. During its 3-week rampage from the tropical Atlantic to the ice-covered Arctic, this incredible tempest unleashed human suffering along a 7,000-mile-long track.

Gilbert 1988 Strongest Atlantic hurricane on record
A NOAA research aircraft plying the eye of Hurricane Gilbert near Jamaica measured a sea-level pressure of 26.22 inches (888 mb), the lowest ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere.
Click here to see an illustrated report on Gilbert.

Ginger 1971 World's longest-lived tropical cyclone
"Probably the world's longest-lived tropical cyclone", according to a NOAA report, Hurricane Ginger churned the Atlantic for 31 days. Born near the Bahamas on September 5, Ginger tracked halfway to Spain before stalling and then turning back towards the U.S. mainland. Ginger came ashore near Wilmington, N.C., on October 1, bringing heavy rains and considerable crop damage, and dissipated off the Virginia coast four days later.

Gloria 1985 Struck Long Island
Six hurricanes and 2 tropical storms struck the U.S. coastline during the 1985 hurricane season, matching the 1916 record. Hurricanes Danny, Elena, Juan and Kate hit the Gulf coast, Bob came ashore in South Carolina, and Gloria crossed the Carolina capes before reaching Long Island. All of the hurricanes were damaging but none were devastating; damage totaled about $4 billion.

Greta-Olivia 1978 A two-ocean hurricane
Caribbean hurricane Greta hit Honduras and Belize, crossed Guatemala, entered the Pacific and was re-born as Hurricane Olivia, which then struck Mexico. Be sure to look at both track maps.

Hazel 1954 The strongest storm to hit the East Coast north of Florida
After wallowing in the Caribbean for a week, Hurricane Hazel suddenly turned northwards, cutting across Haiti and roaring ashore near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Tides driven by 150 m.p.h. winds carved new inlets along the Carolina coast, and gales shook 100,000,000 apples from their trees in Pennsylvania. In 12 hours Hazel sped from the Carolinas to Canada, maintaining hurricane-force winds as she merged with a strong low over the Great Lakes. The storm center had an eye-like calm as it passed over Toronto, where 100 died in flooding. Ninety-five died in the U.S., and hundreds more in Haiti. Hazel's remnants passed over Hudson's Bay before heading off to Sweden.

Hugo 1989 Bull’s eye hit on Charleston
Hurricane Hugo smashed the Virgin Islands and the north coast of Puerto Rico before heading directly into Charleston, South Carolina. Unusually warm water just off the coast gave Hugo a burst of energy before coming ashore with winds clocked at 138 m.p.h., making it the most powerful hurricane in 35 years to strike the east coast north of Florida. The sea in Bull's Bay, just north of Charleston, rose to 20 feet above mean sea level, the greatest storm tide anywhere on the east coast in this century. And at $10 billion, Hugo was the most damaging hurricane in history (until Andrew).
Click here to see an illustrated report on Hugo.

Key Largo 1935 The most violent hurricane to ever visit the U.S.
The small but exceedingly violent "Labor Day Storm" ripped through the middle of the Florida Keys with winds as high as 200 m.p.h., killing 400 and taking out forever the over-the-seas rail line to Key West. A barometer reading of 26.35 inches (892 mb) at Long Key remains the lowest ever recorded on land, outside of a few Pacific typhoons. There were numerous stories of people on washed-over islands clinging to the tops of palm trees all night long to avoid being swept away, and the storm was the model for the one featured in the Humphrey Bogart and Edward G. Robinson film, "Key Largo".

Miami 1926 Let’s hope this one doesn’t repeat itself!
A powerful hurricane brought 132 m.p.h. gusts to downtown Miami and put the island of Miami Beach completely under sea water. Hundreds drowned, many on the evacuee-choked causeways linking Miami Beach with the mainland. The disaster put a real damper on the 1920's land boom in southern Florida, from which the region didn't recover until the Great Depression and the Second World War were over. This hurricane was bigger and a bit stronger than Andrew, and it also scored a direct hit on Miami Beach (Andrew’s eye wall passed about 15 miles south of Miami Beach). If the same storm were to hit the same location today, damage would likely approach 100 billion dollars!

Mitch 1998 Deadliest hurricane of the century.
Torrential rains unleashed flooding that killed 20,000 people and washed away much of Honduras and Nicaragua.

New England 1938 Way north for a hurricane!
A poorly-tracked Cape Verde hurricane scored a surprise hit on Long Island and roared up the Connecticut River Valley. Winds as high was 186 m.p.h. (on Blue Hill, near Boston) and heavy rains caused massive wind, wave and flood damage all over New England, and 600 died. The storm center was traveling northward at 56 m.p.h. when it came ashore.

 

[SeleucusNicator]

Where are you getting this, Quasar? I am fascinated with hurricaines, but I don't want to be entirely dependent on you for my information.

 

[Quasar1011]

Don't tease me like that! I opened up to the top of this page to see what the latest impending doom/update discussion on Ivan is... and I see your post at the top. Man! I was so excited there for a moment...

Let's just say that the Guantanamo Bay Naval Station in eastern Cuba needs to watch this storm closely.

The below chart shows forecast tracks of different computer models. The thickest red line is the official track issued by the National Hurricane Center. Seems they are going north of the models on this one, at least for now.

 

[Sims2789]

This is exactly why I do not live in Florida. My mom lived in Key West during a hurricane. The yhad to evacuate and when they returned their whole floor was wet with water.

 

[h4ppy]

Lets hope it doesn't touch America so we don't have to hear about it on the news constantly.

 

[naervod]

My prayers are with the people of Florida. I really hope they make it through these next few weeks fine.

And if your state goes underwater, come to Northern California, where the weather is good April-November and the worst weather is 40 degrees and rain.

 

[Quasar1011]

Where are you getting this, Quasar? I am fascinated with hurricanes, but I don't want to be entirely dependent on you for my information.

I'm a meteorologist, for one; so I can recall much of the information, and know where to google for good graphs and the like I suppose I could post some links to hurricane sites though:

Caribbean Hurricane Network Eye On The Tropics Tampa Bay Online Hurricane Center Hurricane City Mike's Hurricane Tracking

 

[PantheraTigris2]

I KNEW you were a weather-guesser. I've worked right down the hall from them for years, so I know the type... I should have made my suspicion known earlier...

 

[Turner]

Hey, Quasar! Don't suppose you have a list of names that have been retired, do ya? My brother is a bit of a weather freak, and it rubbed off on me when I moved to KS. He was mentioning that Charley will be retired, and I was wondering what other ones there were....

PT2 - he said as much a while back. Dont' recall when, but I knew he was a weatherman...

 

[Quasar1011]

Hey, Quasar! Don't suppose you have a list of names that have been retired, do ya? My brother is a bit of a weather freak, and it rubbed off on me when I moved to KS. He was mentioning that Charley will be retired, and I was wondering what other ones there were....

PT2 - he said as much a while back. Dont' recall when, but I knew he was a weatherman...

Well, I did post a nice thread on Hurricane Isabel last year.

Retired Hurricane Names

Names are "retired" if a hurricane has been really big and destructive. It’s like when a sports jersey or number is retired after a really great athlete leaves a sport. When a name is retired it won’t be used again.

Retired Names in alphabetical order:

Agnes (1972§*): Florida, 977 mb, Category 1
Alicia (1983*): North Texas, 963 mb, Category 3
Allen (1980*): Antilles, 899 mb, Category 5
Allison (2001): Texas, 1002 mb, TS
Andrew (1992*): Bahamas/Florida/Louisiana, 922 mb, Category 5
Anita (1977): Mexico, 926 mb, Category 5
Audrey (1957§*): Louisiana, 946 mb, Category 4
Betsy (1965§*): Bahamas, 941 mb, Category 5
Beulah (1967*): Antilles, 923 mb, Category 5
Bob (1991*): North Carolina & Northeast U.S., 950 mb, Category 3
Camille (1969§*): Louisiana, 905 mb, Category 5
Carla (1961§*): Texas, 931 mb, Category 5
Carmen (1974): Mexico, 928 mb, Category 4
Carol (1954§*note): Northeast U.S., 976 mb, Category 2
Celia (1970*): South Texas, 945 mb, Category 3
Cesar (1996): Central America, 990 mb, Category 1
Cleo (1964*): Lesser Antilles, 950 mb, Category 5
Connie (1955§): North Carolina, 936 mb, Category 4
David (1979): Lesser Antilles, 924 mb, Category 5
Diana (1990): Mexico, 980 mb, Category 2
Diane (1955§*): Mid-Atlantic & Northeast U.S., 969 mb, Category 3
Donna (1960§*): Bahamas, 932 mb, Category 5
Dora (1964*): Northeast Florida, 942 mb, Category 4
Edna (1968): Atlantic, 1005 mb, TS (see Carol note)
Elena (1985*): Mississippi, 953 mb, Category 3
Eloise (1975*): Antilles, 955 mb, Category 3
Fifi (1974): Belize, 971 mb, Category 2
Flora (1963): Haiti, 940 mb, Category 4
Floyd (1999): North Carolina, 921 mb, Category 4
Fran (1996): Carolinas, 946 mb, Category 3
Frederic (1979*): Alabama and Mississippi, 943 mb, Category 4
Georges (1998): Antilles, 937 mb, Category 5
Gilbert (1988): Lesser Antilles/Mexico, 888 mb, Category 5
Gloria (1985*): North Carolina, 920 mb, Category 4
Gracie (1959): South Carolina, 950 mb, Category 4
Hattie (1961): Belize, 920 mb, Category 5
Hazel (1954§*): Antilles, 937 mb, Category 4
Hilda (1964§*): Louisiana, 941 mb, Category 4
Hortense (1996): Puerto Rico, 935 mb, Category 4
Hugo (1989*): Antilles/Carolinas, 918 mb, Category 5
Inez (1966): Lesser Antilles, 929 mb, Category 4
Ione (1955*): North Carolina, 938 mb, Category 3
Iris (2001): Belize, 950 mb, Category 4
Janet (1955): Lesser Antilles, 914 mb, Category 5
Joan (1988): Curacao, 932 mb, Category 4
Keith (2000): Mexico, 942 mb, Category 4
Klaus (1990): Martinique, 985 mb, Category 1
Lenny (1999): Carribbean Is., 933 mb, Category 4
Luis (1995): Atlantic, 935 mb, Category 4
Marilyn (1995): Puerto Rico, 950 mb, Category 3
Michelle (2001): Cuba, 933 mb, Category 4
Mitch (1998): Central America, 905 mb, Category 5
Opal (1995): Florida and Alabama, 919 mb, Category 4
Roxanne (1995): Yucatan, 958 mb, Category 3

Key:

§ one of the 37 deadliest
US hurricanes

* one of the 31 costliest
US hurricanes (in 1990 dollars)

Note: Carol was used again
to denote a hurricane in the
mid-Atlantic in 1965. However,
it is assumed that the name was
retired retrospectively for the
damages caused by the 1954 storm
of the same name, because the name
does not appear after that time.

According to the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory/NOAA

Ivan
Anyway, Ivan concerns me, because it is a "low-latitude" storm. That means it could make it into the Gulf Of Mexico. One look at the forecast map tells you why gulf coast residents like myself need to pay attention to Ivan:

 

[Turner]

Interesting! I hadn't known there were so many. I knew Andrew, suspected Camille.

So, as a meteorologist, what websites do you like to use?

 

[Elgalad]

Yeah, Gaston did quite a bit of damage.

I stand corrected.. this is what happens when I spend too much time in here getting my news instead of watching the tv

-Elgalad

 

[MarineCorps]

I'd rather a hurricane hit me every week than to live in below 0 weather.

Well live up here for a while and you get used to it. Below 0 weather really doesn't bother me much.