Hurricane Andrew - Southeast Florida - August 24, 1992
Posted on December 1st, 2008
This is my Hurricane Andrew chase video. The footage was taken during Andrew's landfall on the Southeast Florida coast, at Coconut Grove, south of Miami. Though Andrew was extremely small, moving very quickly and made landfall about 15 miles to the south, my location was right at the edge of the hurricane's northern eyewall. Unfortunately the entire peak of the storm was at night, however, using a portable spotlight, I was able to capture footage throughout the entire event. Even with the challenging video conditions, Andrew's ferocity is clearly obvious in this footage. The roar of the wind is deafening, punctuated by breaking glass and other debris. Peak winds occur between 13 through 17 minutes into the video, and are sustained near 130mph with gusts to 150mph. The anemometer at the National Hurricane Center (about 2 miles west of my location) failed after recording a gust to 164mph. Based on post-analysis, Andrew is now estimated to have had sustained winds of 165mph with peak gusts near 200-215mph at landfall in South Florida, making it one of only three Category Five hurricanes ever to strike the United States.
Tags: 1992, Andrew, category, Cyclone, disaster, Extreme, Five, Florida, HURRICANE, Hurricanes, Severe, Storms, Tropical, Weather, wind
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Hurricane Hugo - Luquillo, Puerto Rico - September 18, 1989
Posted on October 28th, 2008
This is my Hurricane Hugo chase video. The footage was taken during Hugo's landfall on the northeast tip of Puerto Rico at Luquillo. In my 25 years of hurricane chasing, this remains, overall, the best footage I have ever been fortunate enough to capture. Though I have been in stronger hurricanes, given that Hugo was a Category Four and the strongest portion of the eyewall passed directly over my location (during daylight hours), I had the rare opportunity to document the full force of an intense hurricane at a direct coastal location. Though significant damage begins about 8 minutes into the video, the peak winds occur between 10 through 21 minutes in, and are sustained near 135mph with gusts to 160-170mph. An anemometer on the island of Culebra (just offshore Eastern Puerto Rico) reported a peak gust of 170mph when the same portion of the eyewall passed over that location a couple of hours prior to reaching Luquillo.
Tags: 1989, Cyclone, disaster, Extreme, Hugo, HURRICANE, Hurricanes, Puerto, Rico, Severe, Storms, Tropical, Typhoon, Weather, wind
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