Question (Hurricane history, etc.)-Biggest 'dud' storm ever?

[pcolaguy]

Easy decision, Dennis of course. We got power back THE NEXT DAY. Compared to Ivan, where it took 2 weeks. And don't even say "well Navarre got it alot worse", people in Navarre got power back within the week. Some people didn't get power back for over 2 months after Ivan. Also, the winds were way overstated for Dennis. MAYBE there was a gust or 2 to major hurricane force, certainly no sustained winds. Sure maybe it impacted some people on the beach, but it didn't impact as widespread an area as Ivan, after it was forecasted to be WORSE than Ivan. CNN the day before and of, calling for a Cat 4, only to have it weaken to a Cat 2... biggest dud ever.

Don't tell that to people who lost their homes...IMO any hurricane that destroys someone's property and/or life isn't a dud even if it weakens from Cat 5 to Cat 1.

But hey, don't take my word for it. Look at the damage survey from NWS Mobile!

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/mob/0705Dennis/survey_images.shtml

Um, that's why I said while it did impact some people on the beach, it didn't do half of what it was supposed do, so it's a dud. I've drove over on the east side of town too, just small piles on tree limbs out by the road awaiting pickup. Nothing compared to the forests some people had out on their curb in Ivan, couldn't even drive down half of the roads.

[docjoe]

Easy decision, Dennis of course. We got power back THE NEXT DAY.
Um, that's why I said while it did impact some people on the beach, it didn't do half of what it was supposed do, so it's a dud. I've drove over on the east side of town too, just small piles on tree limbs out by the road awaiting pickup. Nothing compared to the forests some people had out on their curb in Ivan, couldn't even drive down half of the roads.

I wont argue that overall Dennis was not as bad as Ivan but I think you are downplaying it quite a bit. I have no doubt Dennis was worse in my area (west side of Milton) than Ivan. I didnt need a roof after Ivan...I need one now. Just today the debris crews picked up 8 trailer loads of limbs, stumps, etc from my yard alone and I have more than that left. Dennis has stronger winds here they just didnt last as long. So even though you seem to have weathered Dennis ok remember some areas of Santa Rosa got blasted.

docjoe

[jasons2k]

Isidore. They were not expecting Isidore to go over the Yucatan. When it went over the Yucatan, it tore it up. And was only a TS. For days they expected it to hit southeast Louisiana as a major hurricane. We boarded our home. And Wal-mart was nuts. Everything on the shelves were cleared out. The center of Isidore went right over my house. We just got some heavy rain and gusty winds. We did loose power for a few hours. And the Levee did break below Houma in Montegut. And Montegut was under a lot of water. But, it was not as nearly as bad as it could of been.

One thing I do have to credit JB for was his Isidore call. He forecasted well ahead of time the Yucatan would tear it up and pull it SW for a bit.

[Jim Cantore]

About the 1935 storm there wasnt accurate info I just go by what there is

[raisinsnacks]

Emily for the Yuctan. Here is my reasoning, a day in a half before it had 153 knot flight level winds reported by recon. With 136 knots Hrd surface winds. Which makes it very close to being a cat5. The data shown it to be a cat4 into the Yuctan. Then when we get the reports out of there we find that there is only cat1 or maybe cat2 damage??? It was a big suprize. I don't know if I should call it a dud at this landfall. But nowhere near what I was expecting. Over northern Mexico different story.

IMHO Emily wasn't a dud at the Yucatan. The damage pictures at Playa del Carmen weren't as bad as I thought they'd be, but still horrible. And to this date, I haven't seen any damage pictures from Tulum or Cozumel, and the damage there could've been worse. Don't forget, the Mexican government tends to say "no damage" when there's been a lot, and much of the media actually believes it.

Emily was the first hurricane I had ever been in. We were 5 miles south of Playa del Carmen. The nearest weather obs I believe recorded max sustained winds of 120 mph. We were tucked away in a shelter, and I haven't been able to find any maps or radar showing exactly where Emily hit, but I believe we were in the northern eyewall, and a few people in charge at our shelter claim we were in the eye briefly.

The damage, while definite, wasn't as bad as I had expected. The storm surge was minimal (perhaps having the island of Cozumel just offshore protected us. I don't know) However, all the roads just to the south of us--toward Tulum--were closed for days after the storm, so I didn't get to see the damage there.

In Cancun, which is 40 or so miles north of Playa del Carmen, you could barely tell that there had been a storm at all. A few small down trees, but that was it. We drove through a pretty poor area of town both the day before and two days after, and there was hardly any structural damage to the "buildings."

Just south of Playa del Carmen...

[wxmann_91]

Emily for the Yuctan. Here is my reasoning, a day in a half before it had 153 knot flight level winds reported by recon. With 136 knots Hrd surface winds. Which makes it very close to being a cat5. The data shown it to be a cat4 into the Yuctan. Then when we get the reports out of there we find that there is only cat1 or maybe cat2 damage??? It was a big suprize. I don't know if I should call it a dud at this landfall. But nowhere near what I was expecting. Over northern Mexico different story.

IMHO Emily wasn't a dud at the Yucatan. The damage pictures at Playa del Carmen weren't as bad as I thought they'd be, but still horrible. And to this date, I haven't seen any damage pictures from Tulum or Cozumel, and the damage there could've been worse. Don't forget, the Mexican government tends to say "no damage" when there's been a lot, and much of the media actually believes it.

Emily was the first hurricane I had ever been in. We were 5 miles south of Playa del Carmen. The nearest weather obs I believe recorded max sustained winds of 120 mph. We were tucked away in a shelter, and I haven't been able to find any maps or radar showing exactly where Emily hit, but I believe we were in the northern eyewall, and a few people in charge at our shelter claim we were in the eye briefly.

The damage, while definite, wasn't as bad as I had expected. The storm surge was minimal (perhaps having the island of Cozumel just offshore protected us. I don't know) However, all the roads just to the south of us--toward Tulum--were closed for days after the storm, so I didn't get to see the damage there.

In Cancun, which is 40 or so miles north of Playa del Carmen, you could barely tell that there had been a storm at all. A few small down trees, but that was it. We drove through a pretty poor area of town both the day before and two days after, and there was hardly any structural damage to the "buildings."

Just south of Playa del Carmen...

...

First of all, thanks for the update and welcome to Storm2k!

And yeah, I agree...due to the small size of Emily and the fact that Cozumel protected the surge in Playa del Carmen, I could see that damage from surge would be minimal - in Playa del Carmen. But, because Cozumel was hit, I wouldn't be surprised to see that the eastern side of Cozumel island has been decimated. But it's good to know that the Yucatan, for the most part, got off okay. But I still think Emily wasn't a dud, after all, it still produced extensive damage in places.

BTW, radar image of Emily at landfall: (though it's not the best)

[Patrick99]

I think David in 1979 was a big, big dud....not for the Caribbean, obviously, but for Florida. I was 4 years old, but I remember it all quite clearly. There was a lot of panic and silly window-taping for not much weather at all.

It was my first hurricane experience, and I was completely unimpressed.

Hurricane Floyd in 1987 was another example of a ridiculous dud "hurricane." We got out of school for that one, but I remember being outside playing football in the overcast, breezy weather and meager rain.

Debby is the Mother of all duds.

Worse than expected:

I think Andrew qualifies as "worse than expected." Everyone was expecting a very strong hurricane, but we'd been fed that song and dance about how it weakened somewhat over the Great Bahama Bank. I don't think people were expecting the run-up to Cat. 5 intensity as it approached the South Dade coastline.

Irene was worse than expected. In a reversal of Hurricane Floyd in 1987, this time we DIDN'T get out of work, until some of the heaviest rain (and man, was it heavy) was already upon us. That was really a crummy job of forecasting....

I also think Gordon in 1994 was worse than expected, due to its constant hanging around and heavy rains.