Powerful Hurricane Charley, which crashed into the Ft. Myers area Friday afternoon with winds estimated at 150 m.p.h. (one unofficial observation clocked 127 m.p.h. gusts near Punta Gorda) and a fearsome storm surge approaching 20 ft., may well prove southwest Florida’s “benchmark” hurricane. National Hurricane Center (NHC) Director Max Mayfield characterized the storm’s impact on the Ft. Myers area as very possibly the “nightmare scenario we’ve been talking about for years”. Its strength eclipsed Hurricane Donna’s, the last powerful storm to come ashore there in 1960. Charley may be the strongest hurricane to have crossed the state’s southwest coast since 1873. Even as night fell, northbound Charley’s fury was still raging, some distance from the tropical waters which had fueled it. Orlando International Airport reported winds sustained at 77 m.p.h. and gusting to 105 m.p.h. just after 9 p.m., causing structural damage. Hurricane force winds lashed many of the hardest hit areas for 2-4 hours. And a swarm of tornadoes, funnels and waterspouts were reported across the state. Hurricane force winds are to sweep coastal areas of Georgia and the Carolinas Saturday.
Sources: National Hurricane Center storm data
WGN-TV/Thomas Valle, Jordan Conover and Dan Lauer
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Tom Skilling is chief meteorologist at WGN-TV. His forecasts can be seen Monday through Friday on WGN-TV News at noon and 9 p.m.
WGN-TV meteorologists Steve Kahn, Richard Koeneman and Paul Dailey plus weather producer Bill Snyder contribute to this page.
