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NotAnotherEmpire t1_ix8ttax wrote

Michael is the much better example. Rapidly intensified into a Catagory 5, which had dire consequences for wind damage.

The wind speed difference between a 3 and a 4 in SW Florida, which has very tough building codes, is minimal. Problem there is surge and that's based on physical size and track.

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Podgrowing t1_ixabppf wrote

Hurricane Opal in the 90s did something similar AFTER back tracking back to the gulf and shooting back to the panhandle. It had forecasters and meteorologists perplexed for a week with no knowledge what it would actually end up doing. I remember my pop waking the 3 of us up and running us to folks in Alabama in the middle of the night and he drove back to deal with storm surge that got 5 feet in to our house…

Hurricane Ivan in 2004 did a similar intense/rapid swelling in force prior to landfall. It decimated Pensacola Florida harder than any hurricane I’d experienced in my 40 years there. Wiping out a major interstate bridge and more.

These events aren’t new, they’re just becoming more common, as forecasted generations ago. I’ve lived through 13 named major storms and countless tropicals. I hated living there. Whole heartedly.

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