How many experienced the eye of a hurricane

[boca]

I never have until Wilma.I always experienced fringe effects of storms thinking how bad can they really be. I'm still eating crow ever since Wilma hit on Oct 24th.

[Jim Cantore]

If I stay in New Jersey I'll never see one

What was it like anyways?

[boca]

I watched thru a tiny hole thru the plywood upstairs in my son's bedroom. Our property separates townhomes and condos on the other. The separation point are very tall ficus trees 150 feet high which blow down the other way.I had no damage to my home other than downed trees everywhere,but to see the trees crash down like dominoes from one area sweeping down the line was very freaky and traumatic to see. I hope I never see that again.

[Jim Cantore]

I guess the worst part would be knowing that the second half is on the way

[boca]

The SW part of Wilma was worse wind wise than the traditional NE quadrent.Really strange storm.

[Jim Cantore]

I had noticed that too

Thought my eyes where playing tricks with the windfield

[boca]

That night after Wilma hit the temps at night dropped to 51 degrees.I wonder if the SW part of Wilma's windfield had something to do with the cold front that passed thru only hours after Wilma passed.

[Budro999]

I experienced the eye of Hugo as a child. We were so happy that everything calmed down because of how intense the western eyewall was in that storm.

[recmod]

I experienced the "eye" of Charley in Seminole County north of Orlando. I say "eye" because I really don't think a classic eye structure existed by the time the hurricane reached Orlando....but there was definitely a powerful northern eyewall that blasted through my area with winds gusting over 100mph

--Lou

[HURAKAN]

I was in the eye of Katrina.

[Scorpion]

The eye of Wilma was very strange. It was not a true calm at all. Winds were still gusting in the 20's. I didnt know I was in the eye until someone told me. Everyone cleaned up the debris in the hour or so the eye was over us. Everyone thought the second half wouldn't be that bad or that the damage wasnt bad at all. Boy they ate crow after the western eyewall came through. I was also in the eye of Frances but I was asleep. Frances and Wilma seem to be quite similar storms, only Wilma was better organized and moving much quicker. I wasn't in the eye for Jeanne since I went to Miami, but I couldve been.

[tomboudreau]

I have a theory on why Wilma might have been stronger on the SW side then the NE side. Look at the direction the storm was moving when it made landfall. It was moving towards the East (I know was not moving directly to the E), and the strong winds were on the south side of the storm because they were moving in the direction the storm was going. In most typical landfalling systems, they are moving in a more Westerly or North Westerly direction, causing the stronger winds being on the NorthEast side of the storm. Because of the direction this storm was going, the stronger winds would probably be in that Southwest quardant instead. Like I said, this is just a theory.

[southerngale]

I have....twice! The only 2 hurricanes I've been in and the eye went directly over me in both. Bonnie in 1986. I lived in Pinewood...just west of Beaumont. I remember my dad going out during the eye with a few neighbors and moving a tree off the street. I just thought that hurricane was bad...then I met Rita.
The eye went directly over me in Jasper. Rita brought many, many hours of hell. And what happened further south where I live is a whole another story.

[fci]

I have a theory on why Wilma might have been stronger on the SW side then the NE side. Look at the direction the storm was moving when it made landfall. It was moving towards the East (I know was not moving directly to the E), and the strong winds were on the south side of the storm because they were moving in the direction the storm was going. In most typical landfalling systems, they are moving in a more Westerly or North Westerly direction, causing the stronger winds being on the NorthEast side of the storm. Because of the direction this storm was going, the stronger winds would probably be in that Southwest quardant instead. Like I said, this is just a theory.

It's not a theory.
It is the truth.

We were told all along that along and south of the center would be the strongest part since it was moving to the NE.
Most storms we experience, as most do; are heading to the North or some part of West so the strongest parts are the East and North.
We always are told the front right of the storms are strongest and when the trajectory is NE or E that would indicate the South or SE part of the storm.
That's why the NE part was weak as in a westerly moving storm where the West part is weaker.
As for the SW quadrant or "back side" of the storm; it was fueled by the interaction with the front thus the also sudden drop in temperatures.

Oh, as for the question in the topic title; we went out in the eye for a good 30-45 minutes.
The wind calmed down midway through from the 20-25 it had been blowing.
The amazing part to me was the sound of birds which had flown in the eye.
We heard a lot of them chirping while we were in the eye.

The eastern sky become almost bright although we never lost the overcast. I have heard that in some eyes you get the sun coming out and blue skies.
We never did.

We too had heard that the back side would be weaker and that did not prove to be true at all here too.
Like I said, the front apparently enhanced the winds.
We had very little rain on the back side of the storm too; much less than the front.

Our little tree on the swale got bent totally to the ground towards the west during the first half and then totally to the ground to the east from the back side of the storm. Same with the debris from our destroyed 2 story screen pool enclosure which got pushed back to the east with the back of the storm after being pushed to the west from the front.

It was a bit scary but an incredible experience since it was a daylight storm. If there is going to be destruction at least we could see it happening instead of just imagining what was going on outside.

Lastly, the temperature drop was amazing and how fast skies completely cleared behind the storm.

[docjoe]

The eye of Dennis pretty much went dead center over my house on july 10, 2005. Fortunately the back side of the storm was nowhere near as bad as the front side. It was quite a spectacle to see no doubt about it.

docjoe

[Vandora]

The local news (on the radio, power was way gone at that point) told us in Kendall during Katrina that the eye was over us at one point, and the NHC (which is right down the street) also mentioned going through the eye, but then I was told on here we didn't experience a hurricane in Katrina, so? I don't know. Pretty confusing.

If we did, that's the only eye I've been in. Wilma wasn't close enough to me for the eye.

[CharleySurvivor]

The eye of Charley passed less then 1/4 mile from where I was. It was pretty cool to look at as it was bright and sunny there and gray and windy above my house.

[wxman57]

The local news (on the radio, power was way gone at that point) told us in Kendall during Katrina that the eye was over us at one point, and the NHC (which is right down the street) also mentioned going through the eye, but then I was told on here we didn't experience a hurricane in Katrina, so? I don't know. Pretty confusing.

If we did, that's the only eye I've been in. Wilma wasn't close enough to me for the eye.

For the most part, Katrina's sustained hurricane force winds were only over water in south Florida. Katrina was just barely a hurricane at first landfall, and surface friction reduced anyhurricane force winds to TS force very quickly over land. Here's the HRD post-storm wind analysis of Katrina over Florida:

http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/Storm_page ... th_mph.pdf

[natmicstef]

The eye came over us in Lenny..it was extremely still and quiet for about 30 minutes. Went outside, turned the gas on to make something hot quickly and get prepared for the back side of the storm. It seemed to go from 0-70 in seconds. In Luis, though we didn't get the eye, the back side of the storm was worse, in Lenny it was about the same or slightly easier. No idea why.

[DESTRUCTION5]

Well Lets Start with Andrew 1992 Short lived eye (20 min) and the scariest 6 hrs in my life to follow with nothing between me and the storm but a mattress, 2 halways walls, and the rest of my family..

Move it next to Frances Worlds longest wait for the 2nd half..Was in the eye for 6.5 hrs I could have cut the grass and moved verything to the curb in the amount of time I spent in the calm of her..

Next was Jeanne saw the stars in her I would think she was a more typical Cat 3 storm with eye Duration being less than an Hrshe was movign at a 14MPH clip....

An this year Wilma this one being in the day it was very weird seeing the Dark clouds coming in the distance I saw 2 funnel clouds rotating around the western eyewall...It was Nightmareish...

Well until 2006....