I have a question for ya'll

[Josephine96]

I think I actually asked this question before Charley was bearing down on me lol..

I live about 40-45 miles or so from the coast.. I know Charley was probably a strong Cat 1 or even a Cat 2 when he crossed through Osceola County {I think he was def at least a Cat 2 based on our amount of damage}.

Here's my question. I am now in a 3rd story apartment. Winds are typically HIGHER the higher up you are from the ground. If Central Florida is threatened by another storm this year with winds of Charley's or Jeanne's.. Should I leave..?

For Charley.. I was stuck in an unprotected house.. hearing things flying off it.. trembling wondering if every window in the house was gonna break..

I think I honestly may consider leaving if we're threatened by a storm. {such as a Cat 2 or higher}. This apartment complex though held up pretty well during Charley.. There was only minimal damage. {definitely surprisingly considering what the rest of Kiss/St Cloud looked like}

So feel free to chime in.. I also think if not for Charley, Jeanne would have been A LOT WORSE here then she was..

[Scorpion]

I think you should be ok, last year was unprecedented and there's not gonna be a hurricane like Charley for a long time. Wasn't last year the first time Orlando got hurricane winds in over 40 years? Also, I don't think 3 stories makes much of a difference, usually thats at elevations above 10 stories.

[Josephine96]

I think it was the last time we had winds that strong Scorpion. Erin passed through in 1995. I believe she was still a minimal hurricane. Or a very strong tropical storm. {1 or the other lol}

[Brent]

Charley was also moving NE at 20+ mph. A normal hurricane won't move that fast, so if a storm of Charley's size(which was small) and strength were moving at only 10-12 mph, the winds would be substanially less.

You just have to take into account a number of things.

[dhweather]

If I remember correctly, the NHC stated last year in some advisories that
every 10 floors, you increase by a category in winds.

So on the 10th floor, a cat 2 would have cat 3 winds.

[wxman57]

Josephine96, you may have had gusts to Cat 2 strength or maybe to Cat 3, but sustained 1-minute winds there were probably around 65-75 kts, Cat 1 strength. You can check Charley's wind swath here:

http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/Storm_page ... /wind.html

As for staying/going, you're out of storm surge threat so there's really nowhere to go in Florida. Unless, that is, you mean to a more secure shelter locally, which wouldn't be a bad idea.

Vertical wind speeds usually peak at 1500 ft in hurricanes, but every storm is different. Mitch had highest winds at about 300 ft up. Wind speeds are measured at 33 ft (10 m), so that's the height of your apartment. Charley was moving very fast across Florida, but it had a tiny core of peak winds only a few miles across. Generally, a hurricane loses half its wind speed in 11 hours over land. But a hurricane moving 20kts goes a lot farther in 11 hours than one moving at 10-12 kts.

[Josephine96]

Thanks for all the opinions..

[dhweather]

Whoops, I was a WEEE bit off, it's 30 floors for one more category,
here's an Ivan advisory:

WTNT34 KNHC 151439
TCPAT4
BULLETIN
HURRICANE IVAN ADVISORY NUMBER 53
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL
10 AM CDT WED SEP 15 2004

..LARGE AND DANGEROUS HURRICANE IVAN MOVING NORTHWARD TOWARD THE GULF COAST...

A HURRICANE WARNING IS IN EFFECT FROM GRAND ISLE LOUISIANA TO APALACHICOLA FLORIDA...INCLUDING THE GREATER NEW ORLEANS AREA AND LAKE PONTCHARTRAIN. A HURRICANE WARNING MEANS THAT HURRICANE CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED WITHIN THE WARNING AREA...GENERALLY WITHIN THE NEXT 24 HOURS. PREPARATIONS TO PROTECT LIFE AND PROPERTY SHOULD BE RUSHED TO COMPLETION THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE WARNING AREA.

A HURRICANE WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM MORGAN CITY LOUISIANA TO WEST OF GRAND ISLE.

A TROPICAL STORM WARNING IS IN EFFECT FROM INTRACOASTAL CITY LOUISIANA TO WEST OF GRAND ISLE...AND FROM EAST OF APALACHICOLA TO YANKEETOWN FLORIDA. A TROPICAL STORM WARNING MEANS THAT TROPICAL STORM CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED WITHIN THE WARNING AREA WITHIN THE NEXT 24 HOURS.

AT 10 AM CDT...1500Z...THE CENTER OF HURRICANE IVAN WAS LOCATED NEAR LATITUDE 27.3 NORTH...LONGITUDE 88.0 WEST OR ABOUT 235 MILES SOUTH OF MOBILE ALABAMA.

IVAN IS MOVING TOWARD THE NORTH NEAR 13 MPH...AND THIS MOTION IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE OVER THE NEXT 24 HOURS. ON THE FORECAST TRACK...THE CENTER OF IVAN IS EXPECTED TO REACH THE COAST DURING THE VERY EARLY MORNING HOURS ON THURSDAY.

IVAN CONTINUES AS AS A EXTREMELY DANGEROUS CATEGORY FOUR HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR/SIMPSON SCALE HURRICANE SCALE...WITH MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS NEAR 135 MPH...WITH HIGHER GUSTS. SOME FLUCTUATIONS IN INTENSITY ARE EXPECTED DURING THE NEXT 24 HOURS...BUT IVAN IS EXPECTED TO MAKE LANDFALL AS A MAJOR HURRICANE...CATEGORY THREE OR HIGHER. OCCUPANTS OF HIGH-RISE BUILDINGS WITHIN THE HURRICANE WARNING AREA CAN EXPECT HIGHER WINDS THAN THOSE EXPERIENCED AT THE SURFACE...ABOUT ONE SAFFIR-SIMPSON CATEGORY HIGHER AT THE TOP OF A 30-STORY BUILDING. AFTER LANDFALL... HURRICANE FORCE WINDS COULD TO SPREAD INLAND UP TO 100 MILES NEAR THE PATH OF THE CENTER. IVAN IS A LARGE HURRICANE...WITH HURRICANE FORCE WINDS EXTENDING OUTWARD UP TO 105 MILES FROM THE CENTER...AND TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS EXTENDING OUTWARD UP TO 290 MILES.

ESTIMATED MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE IS 939 MB...27.73 INCHES.

COASTAL STORM SURGE FLOODING OF 10 TO 16 FEET ABOVE NORMAL TIDE LEVELS...ALONG WITH LARGE AND DANGEROUS BATTERING WAVES...CAN BE EXPECTED NEAR AND TO THE EAST OF WHERE THE CENTER MAKES LANDFALL. LESSER...BUT STILL SIGNIFICANT SURGE VALUES WILL BE EXPERIENCED WHERE ONSHORE FLOW OCCURS WEST OF THE CENTER.

DANGEROUS SURF CONDITIONS...INCLUDING RIP CURRENTS...ARE LIKELY ELSEWHERE ALONG THE FLORIDA GULF COAST.

RAINFALL ACCUMULATIONS OF 10 TO 15 INCHES...WITH ISOLATED HIGHER AMOUNTS...CAN BE EXPECTED IN ASSOCIATION WITH IVAN.

ISOLATED TORNADOES ARE POSSIBLE BEGINNING LATE THIS AFTERNOON IN SOUTHERN ALABAMA...THE FLORIDA PANHANDLE...AND SOUTHWESTERN GEORGIA.

REPEATING THE 10 AM CDT POSITION...27.3 N... 88.0 W. MOVEMENT TOWARD...NORTH NEAR 13 MPH. MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS...135 MPH. MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE... 939 MB.

FOR STORM INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO YOUR AREA...PLEASE MONITOR PRODUCTS ISSUED BY YOUR LOCAL WEATHER OFFICE.

AN INTERMEDIATE ADVISORY WILL BE ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER AT 1 PM CDT FOLLOWED BY THE NEXT COMPLETE ADVISORY AT 4 PM CDT.

FORECASTER FRANKLIN