10/10/80-10/10/06 - A Tropical Weather Comparison

[Frank2]

This morning's South Florida weather is very similar to the Miami weather on this same date 26 years ago. Some might question my remembering such a thing (aside from looking at recorded data) - well, it's because my Mom passed away on that day, and, before she left home that morning (I being a young adult at the NHC at that time), we wondered if it would rain that day (it didn't).

Still, similar to today, the skies were overcast, and the wind was calm (the summertime Bermuda high having long since moved eastward), and, that hurricane season was, except for historic Hurricane Allen, also very quiet, as far as the northern Gulf Coast, Florida, and, the U.S. East Coast were concerned, and, similar to 2006, also featured many recurving systems in the Eastern Atlantic, including Hurricane Frances - which was a hurricane just west of the Cape Verde Islands.

In addition, towards the end of the 1980 season, Hurricane Jeanne became one of those rare hurricanes to enter the Gulf of Mexico - but never reached land.

The hurricane seasons of 1980 and 1981 were fairly active, but, most of the activity during those two years featured recurving systems, similar to this year, however, from my memory, I do not believe that westerly shear was as big an issue as it was this year - only that the Bermuda high was further east, during 1980 and 1981 (a strong El Nino did being in 1982, however, and lasted through the '83 and '84 seasons).

Working in weather at that time was a good thing for me, since it helped me to stay focused, during the transition after my Mom's passing - we were very close, and, though so many years have passed, I still often think of my parents - we only have them for a short time...

Take care everyone,

Frank

[jusforsean]

Thanks for sharing that Frank