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The Atlantic Hurricane season starts on June 1st, and it’s forecast to be rough. A record number of strong storms could form with a shift from El Niño to La Niña this summer and unusually warm waters churning in the Atlantic Ocean. There’s an 85 percent chance of an “above normal” season, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It forecasts between 17 to 25 storms strong enough to earn a name (reaching wind speeds of at least 39 miles per hour).…Story continues…
By: Justine Calma
Source:The Verge
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Critics:
Hurricane Helene was a devastating tropical cyclone that caused widespread destruction and fatalities across the Southeastern United States in late September 2024. It was the strongest hurricane on record to strike the Big Bend region of Florida, the deadliest Atlantic hurricane since Maria in 2017, and the deadliest to strike the mainland US since Katrina in 2005.
The eighth named storm, fifth hurricane, and second major hurricane of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, Helene began forming on September 22 as a broad low pressure system in the western Caribbean Sea. By September 24, the disturbance had consolidated enough to become a tropical storm as it approached the Yucatán Peninsula, receiving the name Helene from the National Hurricane Center.
Favorable conditions led to the cyclone’s intensification, and it became a hurricane early on September 25. More pronounced and rapid intensification ensued as Helene traversed the Gulf of Mexico the following day, reaching Category 4 intensity on the evening of September 26. Late on September 26, Helene made landfall at peak intensity in the Big Bend region of Florida, near the city of Perry, with maximum sustained winds of 140 mph (220 km/h).
Helene weakened as it moved quickly inland before degenerating to a post-tropical cyclone over Tennessee on September 27. The storm then stalled over the state before dissipating on September 29. In advance of Helene’s expected landfall, states of emergency were declared in Florida and Georgia due to the significant impacts expected, including very high storm surge along the coast and hurricane-force gusts as far inland as Atlanta.
Hurricane warnings also extended further inland due to Helene’s fast motion. The storm caused catastrophic rainfall-triggered flooding, particularly in western North Carolina, eastern Tennessee, and southwestern Virginia, and spawned numerous tornadoes. Over 200 deaths have been attributed to the storm.
On September 17, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) highlighted the potential for tropical cyclogenesis in the western Caribbean Sea. Conditions conducive for development of a tropical cyclone resulted from the interaction of the Central American gyre—a broad monsoon low pressure system—and the Madden–Julian Oscillation, which reinforced the large-scale cyclonic flow extending from the eastern Pacific Ocean to the western Caribbean Sea.
Several days later, on September 22, a broad low-pressure area developed within the western Caribbean. As the system traversed an environment conducive for tropical cyclone development, showers and thunderstorms associated with the disturbance gradually consolidated. Due to the system’s imminent threat to land, it was designated Potential Tropical Cyclone Nine on September 23.
The next day, Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunters aircraft found that the system was producing flight-level winds of 52 mph (84 km/h) and had developed a better-defined center; the NHC accordingly upgraded the system to Tropical Storm Helene at 15:00 UTC. The system continued strengthening, with NOAA and Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunters finding that Helene’s maximum winds had increased to 80 mph (130 km/h).
As a result, NHC upgraded the system to a hurricane by 15:00 UTC on September 25, as it entered the Gulf of Mexico while turning north. An upper-level trough to its west and a ridge of high pressure located off the Southeastern United States both served to steer the cyclone towards the U.S. Gulf Coast. Helene was a very large system, with the NHC noting in multiple forecast discussions that the forecast storm radii were “at the 90th percentile of hurricane size at similar latitudes.
After remaining steady in intensity for a while due to its broad size and some entrainment of drier air to its west, Helene recovered quickly and began its rapid intensification early on the morning of September 26 – aided by low mid-level wind shear, high relative humidity values and sea surface temperatures (SSTs) exceeding 30 °C (86 °F) near the Loop Current — as an increasingly defined eye developed, reaching Category 2 intensity at 12:00 UTC.
Quickly strengthening, by 18:25 UTC Helene was found to have become a major hurricane by Hurricane Hunters, and four hours later, a Category 4 hurricane. The hurricane attained its peak intensity later that night with maximum sustained wind of 140 mph (220 km/h) and a minimum barometric pressure of 938 millibars (27.70 inHg) at 3:10 UTC on September 27 as it made landfall east of the center of the Aucilla River about 10 miles (16 km) west-southwest of Perry, Florida, becoming the strongest hurricane to strike Florida’s Big Bend region.
Rapid weakening occurred as the storm tracked inland, and by the time it reached Georgia at 05:00 UTC the next day, it had weakened into a Category 2 hurricane. Weakening further, it became a tropical storm over east central Georgia a few hours later.After a few hours, it weakened and became a tropical depression near the Kentucky-Tennessee border, northeast of Cookeville, Tennessee.It rapidly became a post-tropical cyclone and eventually dissipated on September 29.
Tropical storm warnings were issued on September 24 for the eastern Yucatán Peninsula. Parts of Quintana Roo and Yucatán were placed under a blue alert, indicating indirect impacts. It was later raised to red alert, maximum danger. Cruise ship arrivals in the former state’s ports were canceled for September 24 and 25. Tren Maya was also closed. On Isla Mujeres, two shelters were opened.
Evacuations were carried out in vulnerable areas. Visitors of Isla Holbox were offered a ferry ride off the island at no cost. Classes were suspended in Quintana Roo. The Cayman Islands were under a tropical storm warning on September 24. The Cayman Islands’ Red Cross shelter opened in preparation for the storm; nobody used it. Sandbagging sites opened on Grand Cayman and Cayman Brac. Due to the threat of heavy rainfall, schools in the Cayman Islands were closed on September 23.
Charles Kirkconnell International Airport and Owen Roberts International Airport were closed ahead of Helene’s arrival. The Cayman Islands Regiment was deployed ahead of the system to help with the preparation and distribution of sandbags. Additionally, a small craft warning was issued for the islands on September 23, with a marine advisory issued the next day. The tropical storm warning was canceled the next day.
Tropical storm warnings and hurricane watches were issued for western Cuba. Medical brigades were prepared for flood-prone areas;[38] as heavy rain began to fall, schools and ports were closed, and fishing boats were called in. Due to adverse weather conditions caused by Helene, the Provincial Transport Company of Havana suspended ferry services in Regla. Additionally, the Maritime Administration of Cuba suspended navigation in the Gulf of Batabanó.
Hurricane warnings were issued for the Big Bend area of Florida, with nearly all of Florida, except the westernmost part of the Florida panhandle, put under a tropical storm warning. In addition, on the evening of September 26, an extreme wind warning was issued for the east part of the Florida Panhandle, the first since Hurricane Idalia. On September 23, Governor Ron DeSantis issued a state of emergency for 41 Florida counties.The next day, this was expanded to 61 counties.U.S. President Joe
Biden authorized a federal disaster declaration for 61 counties across Florida. Locally, Volusia County issued a state of emergency. Several sandbagging sites opened up across the state. On September 24, several state parks were closed: four of them in Franklin County, two in Gulf County, and one in Gadsden County. In the Tampa Bay area, officials announced that schools would be closed ahead of the storm.
A college football game between Florida A&M University and Alabama A&M University, which was scheduled for the weekend of September 28–29, was postponed until November 29 due to the storm. At Florida State College at Jacksonville, classes and activities at the campus were canceled for two days. The SpaceX Crew-9 mission, which would have launched from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on September 26, was delayed to September 28 due to the storm.The Central Florida Zoo and Botanical Gardens planned to close on September 26 and canceled events on that date.
Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party was canceled due to Helene, with SeaWorld Orlando and several other parks in Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando also closing or modifying their hours.Halloween Horror Nights was also cancelled. The universities of Central Florida, Embry–Riddle Aeronautical, Florida, Florida A&M, Florida Atlantic, Florida Gulf Coast, Florida State, Keiser, Lynn, North Florida, South Florida, and Stetson announced closures of their campuses and suspended academic operations. Leon County opened up schools to be used as shelters.
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