The Atlantic hurricane season made a rude entrance on Monday after having been upstaged by a rare West Coast hurricane last week.
The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) warned that Tropical Storm Idalia, currently churning northward through the Yucatan Channel between Mexico and Cuba, would strike the Gulf coast of Florida by the middle of the week as a major hurricane.
Idalia is expected to reach hurricane-strength winds in excess of 75 miles per hour later on Monday, and the NHC said it will become a "dangerous major hurricane over northeastern Gulf of Mexico by early Wednesday," with winds at least 110 miles per hour in strength. Landfall is expected later on Wednesday.
A five-day forecast from August 28, 2023, showing the likely path and strength of the eye of Tropical Storm Idalia.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis told residents at a Monday conference to prepare for “major impact” on the Gulf coast and has placed 33 counties under a state of emergency.
According to NHC estimates, a long stretch of coast from Tallahassee to Tampa should expect a storm surge of between 6 and 11 feet as the storm’s strong winds literally shove the sea up onto land ahead of its arrival. However, storm surge alerts extend as far south as the Florida Keys and even include parts of Florida’s eastern coast, where Idalia is expected to exit to the sea after crossing the peninsula.
Storms of such strength are capable of causing catastrophic damage not just from storm surge, but from their powerful winds as well, and inland flooding triggered by huge downpours for hours on end. Tornadoes can also spawn in a hurricane’s storm bands, adding to the chaos.
The Gulf of Mexico is unnaturally warm this year. A month ago, observed temperatures along the Florida coast peaked at 101 degrees Fahrenheit - more than 15 degrees above normal - amid a prolonged heat wave.
Still, on Monday, sensors along Idalia’s projected path showed waters up to 90 degrees Fahrenheit. Since hurricanes feed off the warm water they pass over and become stronger, unnaturally hot waters is feared by meteorologists to be the progenitor of unnaturally strong storms as well.
However, Idalia isn’t the only storm out there, either. A look at the expected wind fields in the region shows a deadly beast lurking in the east.
A map of areas likely to experience tropical-storm-force winds up to 5 days after August 28, 2023, showing Tropical Storm Idalia in the west and Hurricane Franklin in the east
A few hundred miles off Florida’s Atlantic coast sits Hurricane Franklin, which crossed Hispaniola last week as a tropical storm and causing flooding and damage in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, where the storm is blamed for at least three deaths.
After reentering the Atlantic, Franklin slowly churned northward for several days, and by Monday afternoon had intensified into a powerful Category 4 hurricane - the first major storm of the Atlantic hurricane season.
Franklin’s trajectory presently takes it through the gap between the US East Coast and the British overseas island of Bermuda, before hooking eastward and going out to sea.
While it won’t strike land with its powerful eye wall, Franklin is disturbing the seas for hundreds of miles in every direction. The NHC has warned of "life-threatening surf and rip current conditions" all along the US East Coast, and noted the storm will have a more significant impact on Bermuda.