Ten Years Later: My Reflections on the 2004 Hurricane Season

[JonathanBelles]

New blog post is up for today's anniversary.

http://wp.me/p1xnuB-hU

[gatorcane]

Good blog Jonathan. I was living in the Tampa Bay area at that time in 2004. I vividly remember watching Denis Phillips on ABC news and the radar where Charley took a good jog to the east sparing Pinellas County and the Tampa Bay area what probably would have been billions in damages...that was supposed to be THE storm of the century for us...thankfully the trough off to the NW was just strong enough to nudge Charley to the east making landfall in SW Florida instead.

Frances was also a very interesting storm for us in the Tampa Bay area - I remember as Frances moved offshore the Pasco County area in the NW area of Tampa Bay, tapping into warm waters, it intensified and the feeder bands coming into the Tampa area were more intense than I expected with very strong wind gusts probably up to 80mph or so - the strongest winds I experienced. I was on Davis Island near downtown Tampa at the time, watching transformers blow one after the other during the night with the old oak trees bending in the gusts - it was quite scary. Across in Pinellas county some areas were out of power for several weeks. I remember sleeping at night without AC and it was next to impossible it was so hot.

Yeah 2004 definitely got me even more interested in tropical systems that is for sure - I do think that year probably was a once in a lifetime(s) event for Florida with so many systems hitting the state, but you never know if something similar to that could happen again in our lifetime!

[chaser1]

New blog post is up for today's anniversary.

http://wp.me/p1xnuB-hU

ahh, like a specially aged wine - 2004 really was some year for the state. Easy to see how such a hurricane season would cause you to "get the bug", LOL. Come to think of it, Charlie was the last significant hurricane chase i went on. Was in Port Charlotte (outside under the ER driveway at Fawcett General hospital during the event. Was a tricky storm to chase given its fast forward motion and only 5 mile wide eye.

Thanks for the memories!

[northjaxpro]

Excellent blog Jonathan. This indeed was a fascinating read on the historic 2004 Atlantic Hurricane season for the peninsula of Florida. Of course Charley's explosive rapid intensification before landfall on the SW peninsula, then Frances and Jeanne.

I can't ever get over Frances and Jeanne both making landfall at the same area in Saint Lucie County. That was so fascinating. I wonder if that if we will ever see that happen again. The odds of that happening are so slim, but the fact that it happened really stands out prominently.

Also, I remember the tornado spawned from Tropical Storm Bonnie that touched down in an area only about less than 5 miles from where I live in north Jax.

[CrazyC83]

I remember Charley first-hand, despite living over 1,500 miles from the impact zone.

I had friends and relatives directly in the path and had to help keep them safe and informed (they were okay). I knew that rapid intensification was coming many hours out - it had a clear, compact eye, and was going over extremely warm water - a recipe for rapid deepening. It was also clear I had to warn those inland (i.e. Orlando) well in advance since they felt they hadn't got the best information (mainly because the media was fixated on Tampa).

It was also a lesson that every storm is different. There wasn't much precedent for Charley - tiny and rapidly deepening into Florida, and a pattern not typical of August anyway.

[HurricaneBill]

2004 was also a nightmare typhoon season for Japan. It got struck by several typhoons.

[Alyono]

Excellent blog Jonathan. This indeed was a fascinating read on the historic 2004 Atlantic Hurricane season for the peninsula of Florida. Of course Charley's explosive rapid intensification before landfall on the SW peninsula, then Frances and Jeanne.

I can't ever get over Frances and Jeanne both making landfall at the same area in Saint Lucie County. That was so fascinating. I wonder if that if we will ever see that happen again. The odds of that happening are so slim, but the fact that it happened really stands out prominently.

Also, I remember the tornado spawned from Tropical Storm Bonnie that touched down in an area only about less than 5 miles from where I live in north Jax.

it happened in 1996 at Cape Fear with Bertha and Fran

then in 1998 Bonnie hit Cape Fear and then the next year, Floyd struck Cape Fear (after Dennis brought cane winds to Cape Fear)

It has happened before and will happen again (2 canes striking the exact same area in a short time)

[beoumont]

In 1995 Erin and Opal made landfall within .1 of one degree of longitude of each other @ Navarre Beach, FL; just west of Ft. Walton Beach.

Both Frances and Jeanne in 2004, as noted in earlier posts, came ashore at exactly the same place. Each was located on an advisory at latitude 27.2N, longitude 80.2W, @ Sewall's Point.

Myself and fellow chaser Brad Riley spent the night in Frances's large, slow moving eye in an abandoned condo breezeway directly on the beach at the south end of Jensen Beach. The calm inside the eye lasted 7 1/2 hours.

Tried to get some sleep in the car during that muggy night; but all those smoke alarms and car alarms blaring loudly all night made that impossible. You would think the batteries would wear out.

-------------

Why anyone has ever put paper masking tape on their windows before a hurricane, thinking that would have any effect, is beyond me. I guess it comes from some superstition; and the arrangement of the pattern that the tape is put on the windows is probably "important." X's are the most common pattern I have seen over the years before a hurricane; afterwards the tape is on the ground still stuck to the many pieces of broken window scattered about.

[CrazyC83]

Also Charley's intensity at landfall I would have set at 135 kt, based on the fact the 148 kt FL winds were in the SE quadrant (NE quadrant was ashore where strongest winds should be). I could almost argue for 140 kt, but with a pressure of 941? SFMR would have been really nice on that flight.

[HurricaneBill]

Charley was also noteworthy of being the first hurricane to make landfall in South Carolina since Hurricane Hugo in 1989.

[Equilibrium]

nostalgia

[northjaxpro]

Excellent blog Jonathan. This indeed was a fascinating read on the historic 2004 Atlantic Hurricane season for the peninsula of Florida. Of course Charley's explosive rapid intensification before landfall on the SW peninsula, then Frances and Jeanne.

I can't ever get over Frances and Jeanne both making landfall at the same area in Saint Lucie County. That was so fascinating. I wonder if that if we will ever see that happen again. The odds of that happening are so slim, but the fact that it happened really stands out prominently.

Also, I remember the tornado spawned from Tropical Storm Bonnie that touched down in an area only about less than 5 miles from where I live in north Jax.

it happened in 1996 at Cape Fear with Bertha and Fran

then in 1998 Bonnie hit Cape Fear and then the next year, Floyd struck Cape Fear (after Dennis brought cane winds to Cape Fear)

It has happened before and will happen again (2 canes striking the exact same area in a short time)

Well, I was talking specifically the Florida peninsula with regards to two hurricanes making landfall at the same point. Yes Alyono, I was aware indeed has occured before, which you outlined in your post. Even so, it is still an occurance which is rare for hurricanes to strike the same exact location twice within 3 weeks of each other.

[euro6208]

2004 was also a nightmare typhoon season for Japan. It got struck by several typhoons.

Well many wpac nations gets it harder but it is becoming the norm...

[sponger]

Wow! 10 years. I still have the generator! 2 weeks of hell! It was a good year to join Storm2K. I had no idea how much I would need it! I will always remember the Charlie recon flight measuring 140mph flight level winds at 11:30 in the morning. I don't believe the NHC upgraded until 2 pm. I was on my way home at noon to get ready. I told my boss I had to go as there was a Cat 4 coming in. He thought I was crazy, The next day he wanted to know how I knew. Storm2k!

[HurricaneRyan]

That was my first full season I tracked. I'm from California, so thankfully we don't deal with hurricanes but I love tracking them. That and the 2005 season definitely spoiled me a little lol