Central Florida is exhausted and has had just about enough of hurricane season. Back-to-back storms battered the area with flooding, storm surge, and sustained winds.
Despite the feelings of Florida residents, hurricane season is far from over. There is still another 45 days before the season ends on November 30.
It started with Hurricane Helene, which battered the Tampa Bay area before coming ashore along the Florida panhandle. The storm then headed north and severely damaged Georgia and North Carolina.
Before Central Florida could clean up from Hurricane Helene, Hurricane Milton set its sights on Tampa Bay. Just before the storm made landfall, tornados devasted the area.
Hurricane Milton brought a massive storm surge and flooding to the area, but the storm shifted south and missed most of Central Florida.
Another storm is preparing to hit the East Coast of Florida, which has been spared for most of this year’s hurricane season. A new low-pressure system has formed in the Eastern Atlantic Ocean.
According to the National Hurricane Center, the system has a slim chance of developing this week, but it is expected to strengthen as it heads west toward the Caribbean.
The National Hurricane Center said:
This system is currently embedded in an unfavorable environment and development is not anticipated over the next couple of days. However, this system is forecast to move generally westward to west-southwestward, and environmental conditions could become more favorable for additional development by the mid to latter part of this week.
Climate Change
Last week, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis denied that climate change affected Hurricane Milton or Hurricane Helene, but the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) begs to differ. In its State of Science Fact Sheet, NOAA says that artificial climate change is responsible for rising ocean temperatures, making hurricanes worse.
According to NOAA, hurricanes will get dramatically worse with 15 percent higher rain totals, a 10 percent increase in Category 4 or 5 hurricanes making landfall, a 3 percent increase in sustained winds, and an increase in the total number of named storms. They also anticipate a two to three-foot sea level rise by the end of this century.
Rising sea levels directly threaten Florida, especially the Gulf Coast, Florida Keys, and South Florida beach towns. Despite this threat, Governor DeSantis’ government has ordered the removal of the term “climate change” from all governmental documents and school textbooks.
Whether Florida wants it or not, hurricane season is 45 days away from being over, and climate change will just make things worse. For the record, the storm named Nadine will be the following.