Category Hurricane season
National media comes through in a big way for Irma
During the buildup to Harvey I was very critical of the national media on Twitter (particularly CNN) for its continued obsession with Donald Trump at a time when a major Hurricane was barreling toward Texas – a red state with the storm’s center taking aim at areas like Port Lavaca where Trump got about 70% […]
Lesson from Irma – much of Florida cannot handle a big storm
“We didn’t dodge a bullet, we dodged a cannonball” – Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine to WFOR-TV Monday AM Kudos to Governor Rick Scott and Emergency Management in the Keys and Southwest Florida. Kudos to those municipal and county officials like the aforementioned Mayor Levine, Coral Springs City Commissioner Dan Daley and Tampa Mayor […]
Flashback Friday: Hurricane Andrew series parts 1-5 plus Bryan Norcross interview
Due to Hurricane Irma we won’t have our latest installment of our month-long series on Hurricane Andrew this week. For those of you who have missed it, here are the earlier pieces of our series which is more pertinent the next few days than ever. By Miami National Weather Service Office Part I: 1966 […]
Remembering Florida’s strongest ever Hurricane
Editors note: This article originally ran in 2015 on the 75th Anniversary of the Labor Day storm. We are rerunning today since comparisons have been made between Hurricane Irma and this storm The National Hurricane Center last year reclassified the 1935 Keys Labor Day Storm, one of the greatest tragedies in Florida’s History as the strongest […]
Where would Irma rank all time among Florida storms?
Floridians are beginning to prepare in earnest for Hurricane Irma which could make landfall in the state. Currently a Category 5 storm and one of the most powerful in the history of recorded tropical weather in the Atlantic basin, Irma is barreling toward the Sunshine State with likely impacts in Puerto Rico, Hispaniola and Cuba […]
Book Review – My Hurricane Andrew Story by Bryan Norcross
Hurricane Andrew’s fury was witnessed by South Dade residents and concerned citizens all over the region. But nobody has a more authoritative and credible voice on all matters Andrew and for that matter Atlantic basin Hurricanes in general than Bryan Norcross. As the most prominent television meteorologist in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale TV market for two decades, […]
Andrew series Part V: In the wake of destruction south Florida rebuilds and transforms
Editors Note: This is Part V of a series on Hurricane Andrew Parts I, II, III and IV of the series can be found here. When comprehensive histories of southeast Florida are written or made into PBS documentaries like those of Chicago, New York and other great American metropolis’, Andrew will be one of the […]
What we’re reading: Hell and High Water —prescient ProPublica hurricane report
Some people stock up on batteries and bottled water. I prepare for hurricane season by sharpening my social media follows of meteorologists and climate experts. I’m a severe weather junkie. It goes beyond hurricanes. I look forward to summer in Florida because I’m crazy about storms and lightning—I love to sit out on the porch […]
Flashback Friday (Wednesday special): August 23/24, 1992 – Andrew races toward south Florida and makes landfall
Part I – 1966 to 1992 Part II – The week leading into Andrew Having not been hit directly by a storm of any consequence since Inez in 1966, on the evening of Sunday, August 23, 1992 a direct hit from Hurricane Andrew a rapidly intensifying storm moving quickly over the Bahamas was inevitable for […]
Flashback Friday: Hurricane Andrew heads toward south Florida
Last week we discussed the landscape of southeastern Florida from 1966 to 1992. As Tropical Storm Andrew churned in the Atlantic over a week’s journey away from Florida, eyes weren’t fixated on the tropics. In the days before Twitter, smart phones and the internet you had to wait for your weather report on the local […]
The Florida Squeeze 