A Matter of Hurricane Size

Hurricanes can come in all shapes and sizes, and the powerful punch these storms pack is usually not dependent on the size. Here's an example which contrasts two notorious hurricanes of the 1990's.

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This image is a composite of two NOAA polar orbiting satellite images taken in about the same place at the same time of day, but seven years apart! On the left is Hurricane Floyd, and on the right is Hurricane Andrew. The two storms are at about the same intensity (145 mph winds; Category 4 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale). Yet, the two storms are of vastly different sizes. Andrew was a smaller than average size storm, with the destructive winds concentrated near the small eye. Floyd was a much larger storm. While the most destructive winds were still near its larger eye, the destructive winds covered a much larger area than in Andrew, as did Floyd's cloud shield.

Hurricane Andrew made landfall over Homestead, FL producing significant damage to near-total destruction from Coral Gables to Florida City. In the process, it caused $25 billion in damage. If Floyd had made landfall in the same place on the same track at near the same intensity, the damage swath would have been much wider and the resulting monetary damage figure would likely have been much greater.

This image is courtesy of the National Climatic Data Center. Additional information on these two storms is available from the Tropical Prediction Center in the respective reports on Floyd and Andrew. Additional information on the NOAA Polar Orbiters and other NOAA satellites is available from NOAA's Satellite Page.

Interesting Image Page #11 - Weather Satellite Launches - Then and Now

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