Looking back on 2004 hurricane season (Part 2)

The 2004 North Atlantic Hurricane season started off slowly. After dramatic predictions by experts like Bill Gray that we would experience a busy year, not a single storm formed in the months of June or July. When Alex formed on August 1st, it marked the latest start since 2000 when Alberto formed on August 4th. Alex became a hurricane on August 3rd as it brushed the North Carolina Outer Banks. While passing within 10 miles of Cape Hatteras, the hurricane reached an intensity of 100 mph. A wind gust of 91 knots in Hatteras Village is assumed to be accurate. A six foot storm surge parts of inundated Ocracoke Island. Alex would go on to become a Cat 3 hurricane as it moved over the Atlantic. Tropical Storm Bonnie formed and moved into the Caribbean on August 3rd. It then weakened into a tropical wave. By 8/9, TS Bonnie was in the Gulf of Mexico just north of the Yucatan. It moved NE and made landfall on the 12th near Apalachicola. But all eyes were on Charley. Hurricane Charley formed on 8/9 east of Barbados. By the 11th, it as south of Jamaica and crossed Cuba early on the morning of 8/13 as a Category 3 hurricane. It intensified rapidly in the hours just before landfall and made a sharp northeast turn, passing just north of Captiva Island. The full fury of its 145 mph winds slammed into Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte, Florida. Charley crossed the state and exited into the Atlantic near Daytona Beach the following morning. It went on to move into South Carolina. There were ten deaths in Florida. The $15 billion in estimated damage makes it the second most damaging U.S. hurricane. TS Danielle stayed over the open Atlantic. Tropical Storm Earl was a short-lived storm that formed on August 13th. It weakened into a tropical wave as it crosses the Windward Islands. Hurricane Frances was identified as a tropical depression on 8/24 in the far eastern Atlantic. It was upgraded to a tropical storm on 8/25 and a hurricane the following day. By August 31st, Frances was north of Puerto Rico with top winds of 140 mph. On September 2nd, Frances blasted the Turks and Caicos islands in the Bahamas with winds of 145 mph. The Category 4 hurricane weakened to a Category 2 storm on September 3rd and 4th. On September 5th, a weakened Frances make landfall nears Sewell’s Point on the East Coast of Florida with top winds of 105mph. It crossed the Florida Peninsula and made landfall the next day near St. Marks in the Florida Big Bend area. More tomorrow.