Why Florida is a state so prone to being hit by hurricanes

Why Florida is a state so prone to being hit by hurricanes
Why Florida is a state so prone to being hit by hurricanes

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Millions of people in Florida, in the United States, rushed to leave their homes as Hurricane Milton approached the state’s west coast.

The phenomenon made landfall as a category 3 storm this Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. local time (00:30 GMT) near Tampa Bay with winds of about 200 km/h.

US President Joe Biden warned that evacuating was a matter of “life or death,” and warned that this could be the worst storm the country has seen in 100 years. However, it is true that in Florida the threat of these types of storms is part of daily life for local residents. But why is this state so hit by hurricanes?

Why is this state hit so hard by hurricanes?

Florida is no stranger to hurricanes. Each season, which runs from June to November, state residents receive notifications from local authorities on how to prepare for a potential storm.

The main reason Florida has been hit by a long list of hurricanes is basically geographic. It is a large state that spans hundreds of kilometers. More precisely, Florida occupies a territory of 170,312 km².

“Florida has a peninsula 400 miles (643 km) long and the length of Florida’s coast is almost as long as the coasts of all the other states in the region from Virginia to Texas combined,” Emily Powell tells BBC Mundo. , from the Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies at Florida State University.

In addition to its extensive territory, where the state is located is also key. “When tropical systems begin to make their way toward the western Atlantic or the Gulf of region, Florida is very susceptible to them making landfall there,” the specialist clarifies.

Las coastal soil characteristics of the state are another determining factor. “Florida is also vulnerable to the impacts of tropical cyclones in part due to its low-lying coastal areas and bathymetry,” explains Powell.

Bathymetry is the study of the deep sea. “The bathymetry of the west coast of Florida on the gulf side is very shallow compared to the east side of the Atlantic. “This shallow slope bathymetry increases the threat of storm surge,” he notes.

There is no consensus on how many hurricanes have hit Florida in history. According to a count by the Florida Climate Center, the most notable hurricanes that have affected the peninsula are more than 20 in the last century.

Florida’s three most powerful hurricanes, based on wind speed, were the Labor Day hurricane in September 1935, with winds of 297 km/h; Hurricane Andrew in August 1992, with winds of 265 km/h, and Hurricane Michael in October 2018, with winds of 257 km/h.

Hurricane Charley hit Cayo Costa, an island on Florida’s Gulf Coast, as a Category 4 hurricane in August 2004, killing at least nine people and causing $6.8 billion in damage.

After 18 years, Hurricane Ian in 2022, also a category 4, made landfall in the same place. In recent history, the most powerful and most damaging hurricanes in Florida besides Charley and Ian were:

Basic ingredients of a hurricane

As we noted before, Florida is frequently in the path of storms. And these can be very powerful.

Hurricane Andrew hit Florida in 1992 causing death and destruction

“Florida is in the subtropical zone of the Atlantic, where it can be hit by a hurricane that originates in Africa—historically the most intense—as well as one that forms in the western Caribbean Sea or the Gulf of Mexico,” he details to BBC Mundo. John Morales, Hurricane Specialist Meteorologist for NBC -6 in Miami.

According to scientists, these storms have become even more powerful in recent years due to the climate change. “The impact is greater now than it would have been without human-induced climate change, as sea levels are higher,” Liz Bentley, from the Royal Meteorological Society of the United Kingdom, tells the BBC.

In addition to this, warmer air that retains more moisture is worsening flooding because more intense rain occurs.

For his part, Reinhard Schiemann, from the National Center for Atmospheric Sciences in the United Kingdom, says that there is a relationship between climate change and an increase in wind speed, which also causes stronger storm surges.

At the same time, climate change also slows the speed at which hurricanes travel. That is, “a particular area can be affected by all of these combined impacts of a storm for longer,” adds Schiemann.

*This note is an update of an article published in September 2022, when the state of Florida was hit by Hurricane Ian.

BBC

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