Posted on 11/06/2005 10:41:48 AM PST by Sam Cree
Wilma was a classic October hurricane which struck South Florida as a Category 3 hurricane on October 24th, 2005. Wilma developed from a tropical depression near Jamaica, a typical source region for October tropical cyclones, on the afternoon of October 15, 2005. It became the 21st named storm of the season during the morning hours of October 17, 2005, which tied the record for the most named storms in one season originally set back in 1933. Wilma underwent a rapid intensification cycle which began on October 18th and ended in the early morning hours of October 19th, with a central pressure decrease of an incredible 88 mb in only 12 hours! The central pressure reached 882 mb, making Wilma the most intense hurricane ever in the Atlantic Basin, a full 6 mb lower than Hurricane Gilbert in September 1988. Figure 1 (left) illustrates a satellite picture of Wilma shortly after its time of peak intensity. Wilma went on to make landfall on Cozumel Island just off the Yucatan Peninsula as a strong category 4 hurricane on Friday, October 21st, then drifted erratically over the Yucatan Peninsula through Saturday evening October 22nd.
Wilma began to move off the northeast coast of the Yucatan Peninsula on the night of the 22nd, then gradually accelerated northeast over the southern Gulf of Mexico toward South Florida as a strong mid and upper-level trough over the central United States moved south and forced a southwesterly steering flow. The hurricane made landfall as a category 3 storm shortly before 7 AM Monday, October 24th on the southwest Florida coast between Everglades City and Cape Romano. Figure 2 shows an infrared satellite image, while Figures 3 and 4 illustrate radar reflectivity and velocity images/loops of Wilma while crossing the peninsula. Figure 5 illustrates Wilma's track across South Florida.
Wilma exhibited a very large 55 to 65 mile-wide eye while crossing the state, and the eye covered large portions of South Florida, including the eastern two-thirds of Collier County, extreme northwestern Miami-Dade County, the southern and eastern third of Hendry County, most of Broward County, and all of Palm Beach County. The eye also clipped the southeastern shore of Lake Okeechobee. The eye wall, the part of the storm with the strongest winds, affected virtually all of South Florida. Around 10:30 AM, a South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) meteorological station located at the south end of Lake Okeechobee reported sustained winds of 103 mph. Sustained hurricane force winds (74 mph or greater) were observed over all areas except Hendry and Glades counties, and even those two counties measured hurricane force gusts. The highest recorded gusts were in the 100-120 mph range. An interesting and revealing aspect of Wilma was the wind field in the eye wall. The winds on the back (south/west) side of the eye wall were as strong, if not stronger, than those on the front (north/east) side. This goes against the common, but sometimes erroneous, belief that the strongest winds in a hurricane are always in the right-front quadrant of the storm. This occurred over much of South Florida, except for central and southern Miami-Dade County which barely missed the southwestern portion of the eye wall, and likely contributed to the heavier damage across Broward and Palm Beach counties compared to slightly lesser damage across much of Miami-Dade and Collier counties.
The following are some preliminary maximum sustained winds and peak gusts observed across South Florida:
Location Maximum Sustained Wind Maximum Peak Wind
Miami International 67 mph at 830 AM 92 mph at 752 and 756AM
Fort Lauderdale 70 mph at 811 AM 99 mph at 830 AM Palm Beach International 82 mph at 910 AM 101 mph at 914 AM
Pompano Beach* 83 mph at 840 AM 98 mph at 818 and 837 AM
Naples* 61 mph at 807 AM 82 mph at 802 AM
Opa Locka* 85 mph at 816 AM 105 mph at 813 AM
Tamiami* 58 mph at 733 AM 83 mph at 738 AM
Fowey Rocks** (8 miles SE of Key Biscayne) 85 mph at 752 AM 123 mph at 843 AM
WFO Miami (FIU Campus) (See Figure 6; add 4 knots for pin drag) 66 mph 746 AM 104 mph at 747 AM L006***
(South end of
Lake Okeechobee) 103 mph at 1030 AM 112 mph at 11 AM
* Records are incomplete due to instrument failure.
** This measurement is taken at 145 feet while the traditional representative measurement of a surface wind is taken at 30 feet from the ground.
*** Data from the South Florida Water Management District.
Figure 7 shows that the lowest pressure recorded at NWS Miami while the storm center passed to the north was around 966 mb.
Wilma moved rapidly northeast across the state, with an average forward speed of 25 mph. Wilma exited the east coast over northeastern Palm Beach County near Palm Beach Gardens around 11 AM Monday October 21st as a Category 2 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of around 105 mph. It traversed the southern peninsula in about 4 hours.
Rainfall amounts across South Florida generally ranged from 2 to 4 inches across southern sections of the peninsula to 4 to 6 inches across western Collier county and around Lake Okeechobee, with isolated amounts of up to 6 to 8 inches observed (see Figure 8).
The maximum storm surge across the area was mostly south of Chokoloskee in Mainland Monroe county where a storm surge of 13 to 18 feet was forecast. Figure 9 illustrates a simulation of the storm surge for hurricane Wilma. Chokoloskee experienced a storm surge of around 7 feet, which caused extensive flooding. A storm surge of around 7 feet was estimated in Marco Island, with 4 feet in Everglades City. The southeast coast didn't escape the effects of the storm surge, with the tide gauge in Virginia Key reported a maximum surge of around 4 feet. Minor surge flooding was noted in Coconut Grove, Downtown Miami, and Northeast Miami.
Damage was widespread, with large trees and power lines down virtually everywhere, causing over 3 million customers to lose power. Structural damage was heaviest in Broward and Palm Beach counties where roof damage and downed or split power poles were noted in some areas. High-rise buildings suffered considerable damage, mainly in the form of broken windows. This was observed mainly along the southeast metro areas, but also in Naples, which underscores the higher wind speeds with height commonly observed in hurricanes.
One confirmed tornado was observed in rural Collier County around 2:30 AM on the 24th, moving rapidly northwest from the intersection of U.S. 41 and State Road 29 to the town of Copeland three miles to the north. An F1 intensity was assigned to the tornado as it caused snapped power poles, uprooted large trees, and significantly damaged mobile homes. Small swaths of greater damage elsewhere in South Florida have not been attributed to tornadoes, but were instead likely caused by "mini-swirls", small vortices within the eye wall that have been observed in previous strong hurricanes such as Hurricane Andrew in 1992.
For additional information on storm reports see the Local Storm Reports in the Text/Graphical Products issued by NWS WFO Miami link at the bottom of this page.
Additional Information Preliminary Storm Report issued by NWS WFO Miami Text/Graphical Products issued by NWS WFO Miami NOAA Survey Images
All data in this report is preliminary and will be subject to revision and updated over next several days. Last updated on 10/30/2005.
Some very cool graphics, animated and otherwise at the link. I didn't post 'em all for fear of overloading the thread, but I wanted to. They show windfields, areas hit by greatest surge, etc.
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/mfl/events/wilma/AMX_200510240301_1910_N0Vlow.gif
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/mfl/events/wilma/wilma_surge.jpg
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/mfl/events/wilma/wilma_track.jpg
My apologies for posting if everone has seen this already.
Thanks, that surge map is very handy. Good post.
Yes...
Although I believe there were areas, particularly parts of Broward perhaps, which experienced cat 3 sustained winds, albeit fairly briefly, as Wilma quickly reenergized on hitting open water. IMO, we had some gusts, but no sustained winds, in that category here in the Perrine area. To the north was somewhat worse.
Andrew hit south Dade in '92 as a cat 5, according to the NHC, and did most of the damage within the first hour and a half, I believe, after which winds began to subside as the storm moved rapidly west, emerging at the mouth of the Lostmans River, which, interestingly, was also about the center of the worst part of the storm surge produced by Wilma. Sobering to think what a cat 4 or 5 could do if slow moving.
I should look for some more info on how the Yucatan was affected by Wilma.
Fascinating that the track chart shows a slight jog to the right just after landfall, since we have seen the same thing on some of the storms that hit the Gulf coast.
I notice that each year different areas seem to be prime targets, for instance North Carolina was in the line of fire a few years ago, while we got off scot free. Now things are reversed, it seems, although NC had a few scares this season.
http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/tropic/tropic.html
Try this, FRiend.
bump to view later when high speed cable comes back on line...living with dial-up is so last century
Thanks. Nice images on that site!
As Jeb says, this is the price we pay for living in paradise. As we're watching the sleet storms on the news from the north, this will all just be a bad memory.
Yes, agree!
I noticed that some folk from my neighborhood left town as well after a few days of no power. Not a bad idea. My wife and I might have done the same, but wanted to clean up and repair damage before leaving, as it would have been dangerous to leave some of it.
I believe the worst of this storm was up north, near where you are - my friend in Boca had the roof blown off his office building, though his house is fine. OTOH, the house across the street from him experienced wall failure, which is kind of shocking. Most damage down my way was trees, signs, fences, minor roof, etc. Loss of elec and phone, all traffic lights out, too. An unholy mess for sure, but most houses are fine, so no real problem.
Yes, I think it's a good idea to have plenty of gas and water on hand long before there is even a storm warning. I note though, that if you do have lots of gas, your neighbors who don't have lots of gas want you to share. However, after the last 2 years, I think hurricane preparedness is going to be more the norm than it was in the past. To think that as Andrew, the wake up call of '92, approached, there were many who didn't even own shutters. That's all changed now.
Glad your boat survived...could it have served as an extra source of gasoline?
I'm a twin also, the 2nd of one set, though.
BTW, I only posted one gif, at low res. The site has a choice of low or high res on most of its graphics.
I like that surge graphic too, but the NWS would have to admit that they are not at all your equal on graphic design.
There is a post-Wilma attempt being made to minimize the storm, the way Hunble was minimizing it before it even hit. And it's because NOTHING can be allowed to eclipse the saga of Katrina and NOLA's flooding. Nothing. Never mind that Wilma was intensifying and accelerating when she hit Florida at almost Cat 4, while both Katrina and Rita hit as Cat 3's that were weakening. Even if Miami had been destroyed by a Cat 5, we'd still be hearing about the Ninth Ward.
I hadn't thought about it like that, but I think you're right.
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