The 21st storm of this year’s record setting Atlantic Hurricane season woke up and started raging in the Caribbean just south of Cuba. Within a day she gained strength from 40 mph to 110 making us all aware that Wilma was not playing around. Her eye quickly tightened to less than a mile and a half wide creating a central low pressure reading of 882 millibars - beating the previous record holder, Hurricane Gilbert, to the title of the strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic basin. We thought Katrina was bad, then came Rita. Now there was WILMA. What’s with these super hurricanes this year? With sustained winds of 180 mph and gusts to 215 she drifted ever so slowly toward the Yucatan Peninsula. After riding over land for a few hours and screwing up Cancan she exited into the Gulf where she picked up forward speed along the southern edge of a strong cold front that steered her toward Florida. “It shot her across the southern part of the Sunshine State like a hockey puck” commented pro surf CT Taylor. Wilma first made landfall just south of Naples at 6:30 a.m. as a Category 3 storm with sustained winds of 125 mph. Luckily she moved fast but damage was quite extensive in the Southern and Central part of the state. At least 6 million people – approximately a third of the state’s population – were without power from the Florida Keys to Daytona Beach. Streets were flooded, windows were blown out of buildings and boats were broken loose from their moorings crashing into bridges along the Intra-coastal Waterway. The Panhandle of Florida, which had already experienced the landfall of three major hurricanes this year (Dennis, Katrina and Rita), were spared the destruction of Wilma but scored some pretty epic swell that she generated from the south. Along the white powdery sands of many of these beaches were dead fish – the result of the red tide that has plagued the Gulf Coast for several months. As fast as Wilma charged into the West Coast Florida she exited even faster off the East Coast while picking up forward speed to over 30 mph and gaining. She must have had a strong appetite because while out to sea she then ate up the remnants of Tropical Storm Alpha. In the Atlantic her winds were still clocking at over 100 mph as she rode along the edge of the cold front that was soon to set record low temps in many areas of Florida. It was like the summer hurricane season ended the same day Wilma left Florida as cold and brisk Canadian air entered from the north. Or that’s what we’re hoping... Kevin Welsh - SurfNRG.com |
