Which Hurricanes Have You Found Most Fascinating?

[gatorcane]

Wow Christy - brings back some bad memories

[Evil Jeremy]

Irene for surviving as a TD for 3 days in harsh conditions, Vince for hitting spain, all of the Greek storms, Katrina (of course), Wilma, Floyd, Francess for its last minute weakning, and many, many, many, many, many (ect.) more.

[gatorcane]

Yes I can't believe Frances - how it weakened so quickly to a non-major hurricane - it could have been a lot worse for Florida. Jeanne was major though.

[Audrey2Katrina]

Donna of 1960 was a trip! After grazing the entire Florida peninsula with hurricane winds, I think it was the only storm on record to have straddled the Eastern Seaboard with hurricane winds from the Carolinas all the way up to New England. That was, as Spock would put it, "Fascinating!".

A2K

[Evil Jeremy]

Jeanne, however, was a fast mover as well. I was so scared of Francess 2 days before landfall!! we were spared a Cat 4. that year.

[CrazyC83]

Donna of 1960 was a trip! After grazing the entire Florida peninsula with hurricane winds, I think it was the only storm on record to have straddled the Eastern Seaboard with hurricane winds from the Carolinas all the way up to New England. That was, as Spock would put it, "Fascinating!".

A2K

Could we see another storm like that this season?

[Audrey2Katrina]

Could we see another storm like that this season?

Anything is possible; but I would have to think the odds are extremely high against it.

A2K

[HurricaneHunter914]

Jeanne, however, was a fast mover as well. I was so scared of Francess 2 days before landfall!! we were spared a Cat 4. that year.

If Frances hit as a Cat-4 she would have surpassed Charley as the 3rd costliest storm at that time. With her slow movement who knows what havoc she could have caused.

[CrazyC83]

Jeanne, however, was a fast mover as well. I was so scared of Francess 2 days before landfall!! we were spared a Cat 4. that year.

The fact that Frances strengthened that much way back in the open water helped as well. It made Frances a huge storm as well, which is a lot more difficult to regain lost intensity (i.e. Isabel, Floyd, even Rita). Had Frances been Cat 1 or Cat 2 at that point, I think Florida would have been hit with a Katrina-like monster as the Gulf Stream was still to be crossed, which would have allowed Frances to get bigger AND stronger.

[CHRISTY]

FRANCES

http://www.afn.org/~afn01795/satelliteofjeanne.gif

[gatorcane]

The fact that Frances strengthened that much way back in the open water helped as well. It made Frances a huge storm as well, which is a lot more difficult to regain lost intensity (i.e. Isabel, Floyd, even Rita). Had Frances been Cat 1 or Cat 2 at that point, I think Florida would have been hit with a Katrina-like monster as the Gulf Stream was still to be crossed, which would have allowed Frances to get bigger AND stronger.

Good point. I also think some unexpected dry air from mainland SE US caused some weakening as well.

[Audrey2Katrina]

I wonder how many Jacksonville folks recall Dora... 1964 I think... I'm not sure of its category at landfall; but think high-end 2, but Dora's name was retired. It made a wicked V cut across Florida/Georgia/Carolina before going back out to sea.

A2K

[gatorcane]

I wonder how many Jacksonville folks recall Dora... 1964 I think... I'm not sure of its category at landfall; but think high-end 2, but Dora's name was retired. It made a wicked V cut across Florida/Georgia/Carolina before going back out to sea.

A2K

It certainly wasn't major...I don't even think it was CAT 2

[Jim Cantore]

I wonder how many Jacksonville folks recall Dora... 1964 I think... I'm not sure of its category at landfall; but think high-end 2, but Dora's name was retired. It made a wicked V cut across Florida/Georgia/Carolina before going back out to sea.

A2K

strange track on that storm

[gatorcane]

Yes, it was CAT 2 I just checked. Actually it was similar to Frances where it was CAT 4 then weakened to CAT 2 just before landfall.

From Wikipedia:

Dora originated as a low pressure area near Cape Verde on August 28. On September 2, the storm had quickly strengthened into a hurricane over 1,000 miles east of the Leeward Islands. Moving northwest, Dora continued to intensify, with a current path thought originally to suggest a New England threat or a turn out to sea. However, a high pressure system to the north slowly forced Dora on a curve back to the west. While in the process of turning west, Dora peaked at 140 mph and slowed in forward movement. Dora then weakened back to a Category 2 hurricane while moving westward towards the northeast coast of Florida. Just before landfall on September 9, Dora regained major hurricane status before weakening back to a strong Category 2 at landfall as the eye passed over St. Augustine on the evening of September 9 with winds reported at 110 miles per hour at landfall.

The storm cut a path across the northern part of the state before finally making a track to the northeast on September 12. As it moved into southwestern Georgia, Dora was downgraded to a tropical storm before moving back over Georgia and South Carolina. The system circulated into the Atlantic Ocean again, but by this time it was disorganized and dissipated completely soon after.

[Extremeweatherguy]

Jeanne, however, was a fast mover as well. I was so scared of Francess 2 days before landfall!! we were spared a Cat 4. that year.

If Frances hit as a Cat-4 she would have surpassed Charley as the 3rd costliest storm at that time. With her slow movement who knows what havoc she could have caused.

If Frances would have hit as a Cat. 4 Hurricane, then winds in Orlando would have likely reached charley levels or beyond...even being well north of the eye.

[CrazyC83]

Dora was a high-end Category 2 at landfall, I believe 110 mph.

[Matt-hurricanewatcher]

Wilma
Katrina
Rita
Vince
Kyle
Zeta
Mitch

[Steve]

>>How about Ivan's eye moving right around the island of Jamaica for no meteorological reason?

I think the reason is that the spin wants to stay in water if possible kinda like a top that you spin in a bowl or saucer that never wants to go out over the edge. I'm sure that's not right in a fluid dynamics thing, but that's the way I understand it. You have this spinning cylindrical core that feeds off of water and probably wants to stay in water. You see that sometimes when storms go around the western tip of Cuba as well.

Most storms are fascinating. I remember (vaguely) back in 2003 some tropical storm that crossed central Florida and headed due west across the Gulf like 200 miles south of LA. It was odd knowing there was something that close that had literally no effect on our weather here (we were under a big blocking high at the time I think).

All of the storms mentioned so far are interesting. I'd add that I thought the one that sat in Mobile Bay in like 1998, 99 or 2000 (was it Danny?) and emptied it out was cool. Then there was Al(l)ison that hit Texas, looped back and hit Louisiana. Juan in 1985 was cool. Eduoard that got sucked into Fay(e) in 2002 was a trip. Ivan certainly was noteworthy. Katrina as the pesky TD #12 taught us a lot of lessons about tenacity and what it could mean for the future on any storms that got their act together later. Andrew was great. And of course I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Gilbert. Ugh. Still to this day, Gilbert is about the only storm that ever scared the life out of me.

[KWT]

For me it just has to be hurricane Vince, simply because of where it formed and even more so, where it made landfall, the first offical tropical cyclone to hit Portugal and as seas warm, I wonder whether there wil lbe more TD's and maybe even TS's in the future.