Hurricane season 2019 closes out, and Florida avoided the worst

It’s almost over.

On Nov. 30 Floridians can breathe a sigh of relief and eat their hurricane snacks as hurricane season 2019 comes to an end.

The season was predicted to be unremarkable, yet it was anything but boring.

Not only was tropical activity above average, but historical milestones were made with events such as Category 5 Hurricane Dorian reaching maximum sustained winds of 185 mph — the strongest ever recorded for a storm that made landfall.

There were 20 organized storms in 2019, with 18 earning names, but none of them made landfall in Florida, although some came close. Of all named storms, six developed into hurricanes.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted in May a likely range of nine to 15 named storms of which four to eight were predicted to become hurricanes including two to four major hurricanes.

Tropical systems began spinning before the season even started on May 17 with the formation of Subtropical Storm Andrea. There wasn’t another named storm for another 54 days when Hurricane Barry came into formation in July.

August was quiet until Chantal came along, but it was September when every week was occupied by tropical news.

September was very active and had historically strong storms in Dorian and Lorenzo.

The season continued its unusual production into November with the rare development of a tropical storm on Nov. 18 in the form of Sebastien.

Through it all Florida made it out mostly unscathed, surprising many given the nature of Hurricane Dorian.

“In 21 years of meteorology, I’ve never seen anything like Dorian. No one has,” said WOFL meteorologist Jayme King. “It’s always mystifying seeing something with that much energy so close to home. It only takes one storm to devastate an area. I think we were very lucky.”

The highlights of 2019’s hurricane season can be summed with some of these notable tropical systems.

Subtropical Storm Andrea Subtropical Storm Andrea was by many cases unremarkable except for the timing of the storm having formed 13 days before the official start of hurricane season on June 1. It was the 11th named storm since 2000 to have formed in the Atlantic before the start of the season, and marked the fifth year in a row the Atlantic had an early storm. Originally listed as subtropical depression, Andrea lasted 12 hours before upper level wind shear and dry air brought the storm’s short life to an end.

Hurricane Barry Barry greeted 2019 as the first hurricane of the season on July 10. The low area of pressure moved from over United States into the Gulf of Mexico, where it developed rapidly into a Category 1 hurricane and moved toward Louisiana.

Barry almost made a complete circle (really more of the shape of the number 6) by cutting through Arkansas and heading east to Columbus, Ohio.

Barry caused more than $600 million in damage, and was indirectly responsible for one death where a 67-year-old man of Panama City Beach was killed in a rip current off the coast, according to a report by WMBB.

Hurricane Dorian Hurricane Dorian is the 2019 storm that will live in infamy.

Rare is it that meteorologists describe a system as historic, but Category 5 Hurricane Dorian was just that. With maximum sustained wind speeds matching only that of the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935, Dorian is recorded as the most powerful hurricane in the Atlantic.

Dorian first caught expert eyes on Aug. 23 and maintained a presence in news headlines until Sept. 8, when it petered out off the coast of Newfoundland.

While Floridians were able to move on from Dorian, as the storm caused only minor damage to the east coast, residents of the Bahamas will not soon forget Dorian’s devastation.

Dorian arrived at the Abaco Islands on Sept. 1 with its powerful winds, waves and rainfall.

But the high pressure steering Dorian westward collapsed which caused the Category 5 storm to stall over the island of Grand Bahama for 18 hours, according to NASA data.

In that time span, Dorian brought more than 36 inches of rain. The level of storm surge has not yet officially been defined by the National Hurricane Center, but reports recall a 20-foot wave hitting Abaco. Several videos made their way to Twitter revealing flood waters high above the rooftops of many residential homes. One video shows Grand Bahama International Airport in Freeport submerged in water.

The devastation amassed $2.5 billion worth of damage in Bahamas, $530 of damage was just to the Bahamas’ tourism sector. Tourism is forecast for reported loss of $325 million during the high of tourist season in 2019 and 2020, according to the United Nations.

As of now, 67 people people are confirmed to be dead and about 762 people are assisted in five government shelters in Nassau.

Some of the most devastated areas containing fatalities were the illegally constructed shantytowns of Marsh Harbour, according to a report by The New York Times.

Electricity and water distribution systems are gradually returning to the afflicted areas, according to the United Nations, but the damages are massive.

While having little physical impact on Florida, Dorian inundated the Carolinas on Sept. 6 when it made landfall at Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, with 90 mph maximum sustained winds.

Most of the force was experienced on North Carolina’s barrier islands, which led to the fatalities of dozens of wild horses and cows on the islands, according to The Charlotte Observer. However, three cows were discovered two months later on a different island and are believed to have survived by swimming along a storm surge.

The damage for Hurricane Dorian is still being evaluated by the NHC, and a more detailed assessment is expected sometime in 2020.

Hurricane Humberto As the Bahamas began tending to its wounds another storm came knocking less than two weeks after Hurricane Dorian. Tropical Storm Humberto.

Luckily, it skirted by the the archipelago and veered from the U.S. as it strengthened into a Category 3 major hurricane but quickly dissipated in the Atlantic because of cool, dry air wrapping itself around the sides of the storm’s circulation.

Hurricane Lorenzo

As September continued its assembly line of tropical systems, a tropical depression formed off the coast of Africa on Sept. 20. Five days later Hurricane Lorenzo had formed and was heading northwest before bending east. The next day, Lorenzo quickly intensified into a Category 5 storm with winds blowing up to 160 mph. Its quick gain to power made it the strongest storm to develop in the eastern part of the Atlantic.

But its might was shortlived as the storm brushed by the Azores archipelago where Lorenzo slowly lost strength before becoming an extratropical storm on Oct. 2, giving Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom a brief smattering of strong thunderstorms.

Tropical storm Nestor

Nestor was the last storm to give Floridians a scare, specifically residents of the Florida panhandle who are still recovering from the massive damages accumulated from Category 5 Hurricane Michael in 2018.

A tropical depression formed off the southern tip of Mexico and became Tropical Storm Nestor three days later. Multiple storm models predicted Nestor passing through the panhandle; one projection showed Nestor taking the same path as Michael and making landfall at Tyndall Air Force Base.

Instead, Nestor lost strength and became extratropical while making landfall at Port St. Joe. Nestor produced storm surge and flooding across the panhandle.

Central Florida was affected with outer bands which produced several tornadoes throughout Polk County. One tornado caused a four-car wreck on Interstate 4, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

The system caused a semi truck to overturn onto an SUV near the State Road 570 exit, FHP said. Two other vehicles were hit by debris caught in the wind; no injuries were reported.

The tornado also ripped the roof off Kathleen Middle School in Lakeland while knocking down power lines.

Orlando did not experience tornadoes but did have a rain-soaked Saturday.

Hurricane Pablo

The final hurricane of 2019 also proved to be a historical storm. Hurricane Pablo formed Oct. 27 and became the farthest east an Atlantic named storm has ever become a hurricane on record, according to Colorado State University professor Philip Klotzbach.

Pablo was 535 miles northeast of the Azores and never made landfall.

Tropical Storm Sebastien

The final named storm of the 2019 season, Tropical Storm Sebastien, formed less than a week ago on Nov. 18, according to the NHC.

While unusual, November storms aren’t unheard of with only 47 hurricanes having ever developed in 168 years of NOAA recording named storms.

Sebastien headed northeast and dissipated.