Catastrophic Hurricane Ian Slams Florida, Impacts Across Southeast US

No FastCast tonight…check back on Friday for an update regarding the potential for record breaking 80º+ degree temperatures to begin October.

On Wednesday, catastrophic Hurricane Ian hit Florida, making landfall just north of Fort Myers (about 80 miles south of Tampa Bay). At landfall, Ian was a high-end Category 4 hurricane, with sustained winds of 150 mph, just 7 mph from Category 5 strength. Ian is tied with Hurricanes Charley (2004), Laura (2020), and Ida (2021) as the 5th-strongest landfalling hurricane in US history.

The radar photo above shows Hurricane Ian making landfall, viewed on the RadarScope app. 

The tweet below from NOAA Satellites shows Ian making landfall from the GOES-16 weather satellite. Notice the lightning in the top right of the eye. Lightning in a hurricane eyewall indicates that a hurricane is very strong/strengthening.

Ian began causing damage and devastation even before it made landfall. The tweet below shows downtown Fort Myers, FL, before the worst of Ian arrived. By the peak of the storm surge, the street signs visible in the photo were underwater.

The instances of damage from storm surge, wind, and flooding are far too extensive to cover on this blog. To see more photos of Ian’s wrath in Southwest Florida, click the link below.

The Weather Channel: Hurricane Ian Photos

While just offshore prior to landfall, Hurricane Ian’s winds reached a peak of 155 mph. This was much higher than the forecast of 130 mph. As expected, these winds have (and still are) producing widespread power outages across Florida. The PowerOutage.us Florida outage map is below.

Notice the dark red colors in SW Florida. Some counties have 90-100% of the population without power. 10-50% of the population is in the dark across much of central Florida, with a total of about 2.1 million Floridians without power. 

Ian’s peak winds were incredible, as seen in the National Weather Service graphics below.

On the coastline of SW Florida, winds gusted 70-125 mph, including gusts to 85 mph in Sarasota/Bradenton and 100-125 mph (not all shown due to power outages) from Port Charlotte to Bonita Springs. 

The Tampa Bay Area recorded hurricane-force gusts of 70-80 mph, including 73 mph at Tampa International Airport. As Ian moves inland, strong gusts are moving inland as well. Many inland areas, especially from Lakeland southeast toward Lake Okeechobee, have reached 60-90 mph.

So, what’s next for Ian? As of 9:45 PM PDT Wednesday, Ian is a 90 mph, Category 1 hurricane, moving NE across Central Florida. The official National Hurricane Center forecast is below.

Ian will move NE across Central Florida, moving into the Atlantic Ocean by Thursday night. Ian will make landfall near Charleston, South Carolina by Friday evening, as a 65 mph tropical storm.

The strongest winds now will be in Central and NE Florida, coastal Georgia, and the southern half of South Carolina. Those areas can expect winds gusting 50-70 mph. Storm surge of 3-6 feet is possible from Daytona Beach, FL to Myrtle Beach, SC, including the St. John’s River in Jacksonville. Other areas along the Atlantic coast from Cape Canaveral to the Outer Banks will have 1-3 feet of surge.

The European model forecast below shows expected rain totals through Sunday morning.

Areas that will receive the most rain (4-10 inches) will be Central and NE Florida, eastern Georgia, most of South Carolina, and parts of coastal North Carolina.

Finally, the chance of flash flooding will continue over the next few days, as seen in the NHC graphic below.

The highest chance for flash flooding remains in Florida (pink colors, 70%+ chance of flash flooding), with a moderate (40%+ chance) stretching along the coast into South Carolina. There is a risk of flash flooding for all parts of the Southeast US that are east of Atlanta and south of Roanoke or Richmond, Virginia.

For continued live updates on Hurricane Ian, use the links below (and stay tuned on Twitter).

National Hurricane Center: Hurricane Ian Hub

The Weather Channel

CNN Hurricane Ian Live Updates

NBC News Hurricane Ian Live Updates