1945 - 1951 Hurricanes

[Derek Ortt]

Frances was nmot a major hurricane at landfall, it was a cat 2

As for WC hurricanes not being direct hits on the EC, I really dont think one should say that, as an eye wall is an eye wall, no matter which side it comes through

[Patrick99]

For my money, if a fast-moving storm enters SW FL and exits SE FL, it counts as a direct hit on both coasts, especially considering that a fast-moving storm over Florida won't lose much strength.

SE FL residents should have learned their lesson about those October storms. We get too overly hyped about the possibility of something approaching us from the east, yet we largely ignore the very real possibility of hits from the south and west.

Funny, even when record-breaking mega-Cat.5 Wilma was menacing the Caribbean, and the models had her (correctly) pointed in our direction, there wasn't anywhere near the hysteria there was when lame old Frances was churning in our general direction.

[Blown Away]

For my money, if a fast-moving storm enters SW FL and exits SE FL, it counts as a direct hit on both coasts, especially considering that a fast-moving storm over Florida won't lose much strength.

SE FL residents should have learned their lesson about those October storms. We get too overly hyped about the possibility of something approaching us from the east, yet we largely ignore the very real possibility of hits from the south and west.

Funny, even when record-breaking mega-Cat.5 Wilma was menacing the Caribbean, and the models had her (correctly) pointed in our direction, there wasn't anywhere near the hysteria there was when lame old Frances was churning in our general direction.

Those models were initially telling us maybe a CAT 1 or tropical storm. It wasn't until 24 hours or so prior to landfall before the CAT 2 or 3 became a reality. Frances was a N PB County, Treasue Coast event and down playing Frances as lame is wrong. Experiencing the eye of Frances I can tell you that @12 hours of 75mph - 105mph wind gusts did a lot more damage and was more emotionally draining than Wilma's 80 mph-114 mph gusts for a few hours. I'll bet if Frances eye would have sat over Dade/Broward for @12 hours the damage would have been significantly more than Wilma's.