Hurricane Idalia to Make Landfall Tomorrow

Hurricane Idalia is forecast to make landfall tomorrow in Florida as a major Category 3 or stronger hurricane. Anyone in the official forecast path is urged to heed the recommendations of their local emergency management authorities and take steps to protect their lives and property.

Hurricane Idalia’s impacts are expected to be severe, and almost two dozen Florida counties have issued evacuation orders and forty-six counties are in a state of emergency. A storm surge of up to twelve feet is possible in the Big Bend, extending from the state’s northern panhandle to the Gulf side of the Florida peninsula.

As First Street Foundation discussed in the report “Worsening Winds,” with global atmosphere temperatures rising, more water vapor is carried by the atmosphere, producing both heavier rainfall events as well as influencing large-scale weather patterns. Hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico and in the Atlantic Ocean may be expected to, on average, track further north and be stronger than storms in the recent past. Warmer ocean waters provide the energy that fuels increasingly devastating storms and cyclones with stronger winds and heavier rainfall which is what is being observed with Hurricane Idalia.?

While it is paramount for everyone to understand their exposure to hurricane winds and storm surge when living near the coast, the Foundation urges those in harm's way to not use First Street’s Risk Factor? tool to make decisions related to evacuation planning. Risk Factor is solely made to understand the probability of risk to properties well in advance of extreme weather events, not for emergency guidance immediately before or during them.?

The Foundation is thinking of those who have been and will be impacted from Hurricane Idalia and wish them a speedy recovery.?