Today is the last day of the 2021 hurricane season. That doesn’t mean there won’t be another tropical storm out there that might spool up, but at least it won’t be an official one…
Here’s what it looked like. The most intense storm to hit the U.S. was Ida (see the yellow and orange dots the hit the Gulf Coast). The fact that the peninsula part of Florida missed being hit was just plain luck, I suppose.
The 2022 season starts up on June 1. Brace yourself.
8:00 p.m. ET 07/06/21: The track shows Hurricane Elsa as a Category 1 coming up the west coast of Florida with a possible landfall near Tampa.
This storm is headed for the Louisiana coast by Friday as a major hurricane.
Hurricane Sally is expected to make landfall between the Mississippi and Alabama border today.
Hurricane warnings are up from western Mississippi to coastal Louisiana.
Looks like this will become a hurricane and head for the Louisiana coast.
The hurricane made landfall early this morning.
Marco has dissipated, but Tropical Storm Laura is expected to become a hurricane today and then make landfall along the coast of Louisiana on Thursday.
“M” stands for “Major Hurricane.”
As of 2:00 p.m. EDT, Marco had diminished to a tropical depression. But Laura is still on track to become a hurricane.
Tropical Storm Laura’s track is forecast to move away from South Florida but head for Havana, then out into the Gulf of Mexico as a hurricane. I’ll update as necessary.
Isaias has been downgraded to a tropical storm but still has strong wind and heavy rain.
The track has the center of the storm crossing the Bahamas and brushing the coast of South Florida.
The storm has gained strength and is back to a Category 3. It is offshore of South Carolina, moving parallel to the coast and threatening high water, heavy rain, and wind-driven storm surges.
PS: Alabama, you’re in the clear.
It’s not over yet — there will be storm surges and evacuations along the Eastern Seaboard — but the danger to Florida has mostly passed.
Sad to say, but on top of the horrendous devastation that has hit the Bahamas, the scammers will be out in force with slick appeals to your heart strings, but aimed at your wallet. If you want to lend a hand, go to Charity Navigator’s guide to Hurricane Dorian and find the organization that you feel can help.
Click here for the latest conditions.
2:40 PM EDT: Dorian is now moving northward, further out to sea, reducing the risk to the mainland by a little. But watches and warnings are still posted, so stay tuned.
10:00 AM EDT: The storm seems to be weakening a bit. The eye is diminishing and it is starting to move north.
6:24 AM: Dorian has been stationary for almost 24 hours over the northwest islands of the Bahamas. It’s now a Category 3 and is expected to finally start moving north later today.
Click here for the latest conditions.
6:30 PM EDT: We’re getting the first real band of the wind and rain coming through south Miami-Dade County. We’ve had a few weak ones before, but this is more like what we’ll be getting from now on.
4:00 AM EDT: The forecast track has the center of the storm off the coast of the mainland but sending wind and rain ashore. Watches and warnings are going up from north of Fort Lauderdale to North Carolina. It has already done massive destruction to some islands in the Bahamas.
Just so you know: look at the map below. If you drew a straight line from Miami to Homestead, my house is approximately halfway along that line. So we are in the clear as far as hurricane force winds are concerned and we’re not being told to evacuate. The tell is that the latitude of the eye is north of us. You’re usually safe when that happens.
We’re still expecting wind and rain, but nothing like what they’re expecting 100 miles north of us.
