Hurricane Opal in the 90s did something similar AFTER back tracking back to the gulf and shooting back to the panhandle. It had forecasters and meteorologists perplexed for a week with no knowledge what it would actually end up doing. I remember my pop waking the 3 of us up and running us to folks in Alabama in the middle of the night and he drove back to deal with storm surge that got 5 feet in to our house…
Hurricane Ivan in 2004 did a similar intense/rapid swelling in force prior to landfall. It decimated Pensacola Florida harder than any hurricane I’d experienced in my 40 years there. Wiping out a major interstate bridge and more.
These events aren’t new, they’re just becoming more common, as forecasted generations ago. I’ve lived through 13 named major storms and countless tropicals. I hated living there. Whole heartedly.
Podgrowing t1_ixabppf wrote
Reply to comment by NotAnotherEmpire in A warmer world is making storms transform rapidly into powerful hurricanes or typhoons in a single day, posing a huge challenge to weather forecasters. Stronger storms disproportionately risk lives and devastate homes and businesses, as Hurricane Ian did in Florida in September 2022. by Wagamaga
Hurricane Opal in the 90s did something similar AFTER back tracking back to the gulf and shooting back to the panhandle. It had forecasters and meteorologists perplexed for a week with no knowledge what it would actually end up doing. I remember my pop waking the 3 of us up and running us to folks in Alabama in the middle of the night and he drove back to deal with storm surge that got 5 feet in to our house…
Hurricane Ivan in 2004 did a similar intense/rapid swelling in force prior to landfall. It decimated Pensacola Florida harder than any hurricane I’d experienced in my 40 years there. Wiping out a major interstate bridge and more.
These events aren’t new, they’re just becoming more common, as forecasted generations ago. I’ve lived through 13 named major storms and countless tropicals. I hated living there. Whole heartedly.