Top Weather Stories of 2004 (CONCLUSION)

I could have sworn that I posted part four of my 2004 Weather Stories last night...but somehow they din't make it onto the web. So I will combine Part Four with the planned Conclusion.

6. Record number of Typhoons in Japan: Typhoon Tokage raked the Japanese islands between October 19-21, killing 79 people. It was the most fatalities from a typhoon in Japan since October 1979. Tokage was the tenth typhoon to affect Japan during the year, which was a new record. The old record was six.

5. Kansas Tornadoes: Significant tornadoes struck Harper County, Kansas on May 12th and again on May 29th. I was there to view seven of the nine tornadoes on the 29th. There were eleven tornadoes on the 12th.

4. Alabama November Tornado Outbreak: An outbreak of severe weather on the afternoon of the 23rd and the early morning hours of the 24th produced sixteen tornadoes across the state. Four of the tornadoes were rated as F2 intensity.

3. Hurricanes Charley, Frances, and Jeanne all target Central Florida: Hurricane Charley became the strongest and most damaging hurricane to strike the U.S. since 1992’s Hurricane Andrew. The category four hurricane produced a 180 mph wind gust at Punta Gorda, Florida. Twenty two people died and total damages amounted to $15 billion. Hurricane Frances made landfall near Sewell’s Point, Florida on September 5th with winds of 105 mph. It caused more extensive damage as it crossed the Florida Peninsula and produced over 100 tornadoes over the Southeast. Twenty three people died as a result of the storm. Frances also caused extensive flooding in the Asheville, NC area. Jeanne made landfall at very nearly the same location as did Frances on September 26th with top winds of 120 mph. The hurricane produced more extensive damage as it crossed the Sunshine State before exiting into the Gulf. Ten people died from Hurricane Jeanne in the U.S.

2. Indian Ocean Tsunami: A massive undersea earthquake during the early morning hours of December 26th off the coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra (magnitude 9.0) produced a tsunami that spread out across the Indian Ocean like ripples from a stone thrown in a pond. As the tsunami reached shore across Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka Thailand, Malaysia, the Maldives and Bangladesh. So far, over 114,000 people have died, and the death toll promises to go much higher.

NUMBER ONE

This list has been a blend of Alabama, national and international weather stories. It is hard to pick anything over the unqualified disaster that happened in the Indian Ocean this past Sunday, but as far as Alabama impact, Hurricane Ivan’s landfall at Gulf Shores on September 16th had to be our top weather story.

Ivan will be long remembered as a classic Cape Verde hurricane with a twenty five day lifespan as it formed in the far eastern Atlantic, crossed the southern Windward Islands, moved into the Gulf of Mexico and made landfall on the Alabama coast. It reached Category Five intensity three times during its life. On the evening of the 11th, Air Force reconnaissance measured a central pressure of 910 mb, which tied Ivan with 1998’s Mitch as the fifth strongest Atlantic hurricane ever observed.

Grenada, Jamaica and the Cayman Islands were seriously affected by the major hurricane. Ivan weakened to strong Category Three status right before reaching land in the United States with top winds of 120 mph. The eye had expanded to a diameter of 50 miles before landfall, so the strongest winds occurred near the Alabama/Florida border. The worst storm surge damage occurred in eastern sections of Baldwin County, Alabama and Escambia County, Florida. Here storm surges reached 10-15 feet above normal. A minimum pressure of 943 millibars was measured as Fairhope, on the western side of the eye. The highest official wind speed measured was a gust of 108 mph at the Pensacola Naval Air Station. A wind gust of 157 mph was observed on an oil drilling rig 70 miles south of Dauphin Island on the afternoon of the 15th. In addition, a remarkable wave height of 52.5 feet was reported from a buoy south of the Alabama coast that afternoon. This may be a record wave height for any NOAA buoy.

A swarm of tornadoes in the Florida Panhandle killed seven people jus before landfall. These were just three of the amazing 117 tornadoes recorded across the eastern United States associated with Ivan. Ninety four people died as a direct result of Ivan, including twenty six in the United States. The estimated U.S. damage is placed at $15 billion.

Damaging winds and heavy flooding rains accompanied Ivan all the way into Central Alabama. At one point, 1.8 million people were without power, including a record 832,000 Alabama Power customers.