One year ago today, the tropical assult begins in Florida...

[WXBUFFJIM]

Read my posts more carefully people!!! I DID NOT say 3 landfalls in Florida!!!

Just so you know, I understood your post perfectly. I was clarifying for hurricanefloyd5.

Cool deal, I'm glad you clarified.

[Frank2]

Yes, tomorrow is a very significant day for many on the southwest coast...

Frank

[WXBUFFJIM]

Yea Frank. It's a day I won't forget either. Seeing that thing bomb from a cat 2 to a cat 4 in just a few hours just prior to landfall, that's a site I'm sure alot in Florida would love to forget, but it's hard to do that.

Just be hopeful that Florida doesn't get hit by another hurricane anytime soon, that will likely make alot of Floridians including myself happy.

Jim

[MetroMike]

Yes I remember those couple days very vividly. It was the most scared I have been about the weather in my 15 years I have been in the Tampa Bay area. I was dealing with possibly being homeless as a result. Very scary threat that did not materilize thank God.

[Brent]

August 13th, 2004 is a day I'll never forget. I woke up that morning earlier than usual(couldn't sleep) and something didn't feel right from the beginning. By the time recon found the lower pressure and Cat 4 winds, the internet was swamped. Weather sites(including this one) were either down or very slow... and they stayed that way for several hours.

[Sanibel]

1 year ago this hour I was shoving off for Miami to evacuate. I was exhausted from packing and securing things all day.

Turns out I could have stayed and rode out just the right intensity hurricane for a real ride. Wish I did now because 5 days in the Arena shelter was worse than the hurricane. There was no surge here. But you can't know that in advance so it isn't worth being killed in surge and crashing parts of your house...

[Brent]

1 year ago this hour I was shoving off for Miami to evacuate. I was exhausted from packing and securing things all day.

Turns out I could have stayed and rode out just the right intensity hurricane for a real ride. Wish I did now because 5 days in the Arena shelter was worse than the hurricane. There was no surge here. But you can't know that in advance so it isn't worth being killed in surge and crashing parts of your house...

Exactly... your island could have easily been like Captiva Island...

[Sanibel]

Captiva was worse, but not that much. Even North Captiva where the eye landfell didn't have any loss of life. Houses were blasted and ripped up there, but still standing.

Charely was moving too fast. 22mph forward speed kept him from staying long enough to wear down houses with pounding...

[WXBUFFJIM]

Also Charley's small size limited the storm surge potential significantly with this storm likewise. So as bad as it was it could have been much worse on several fronts. Still though a $14 billion dollar loss for Florida, the 2nd costliest hurricane in U.S. History.

I live in Maryland, but I can assure you that Friday the 13th was a scary day for myself just witnessing this hurricane bomb prior to landfall like it did.

Jim

[jasons2k]

Good Summary Jim.

And I understood it perfectly on the first read. You didn't deserve to get blasted like that IMO.