Effects of Hurricane Andrew in Florida
The effects of Hurricane Andrew in Florida proved to be at the time the costliest disaster in the state's history, as well as the then-costliest on record in the United States. Hurricane Andrew formed from a tropical wave on August 16, 1992 in the tropical Atlantic Ocean. It moved west-northwest and remained weak for several days due to strong wind shear. However, after curving westward on August 22, the storm rapidly intensified to reach peak winds of 175 mph (280 km/h). Following its passage through The Bahamas, Andrew made landfall near Homestead, Florida as a Category 5 hurricane on August 24. Eventually, Andrew struck southern Louisiana before it dissipated over the eastern United States on August 28.
Hurricane Earl (1998)
Around 0600 UTC (1:00 am EDT) on September 3, Hurricane Earl made landfall near Panama City, Florida with winds of 80 mph (130 km/h). Shortly after landfall, the storm weakened to a tropical storm and rapidly accelerated as it quickly underwent an extratropical transition. By this time the NHC issued their final advisory on Earl. Several hours later, Earl finished its transition and continued to rapidly track through the Southeast United States. After entering the Atlantic Ocean, the remnants of Earl began re-intensify due to the effects of a baroclinic zone. Relatively cool sea surface temperatures near Atlantic Canada prevented tropical development; however, during a 36-hour span, Earl rapidly intensified, as the central barometric pressure decreased by 40 mbar (hPa; 1.18 inHg) to 957 mbar (hPa; 28.26 inHg). By the time the system made landfall over eastern Newfoundland, sustained winds had intensified to 65 mph (100 km/h). On September 8, the remnants of Earl significantly weakened and were soon absorbed by a larger extratropical cyclone associated with the remnants of Hurricane Danielle.