Well Florida, You Dodged Another Bullet!
By Jeff Moffitt
@moffittjc (128837)
Gainesville, Florida
December 1, 2015 7:49pm CST
For the 10th consecutive year (a record, by the way), Florida did not get hit by a hurricane! This is unprecedented that the state has gone this long without a land-falling storm!
A strong El Nino in the Pacific Ocean stunted much development of hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean, to the relief of over 19 million Floridians.
But that same El Nino that helped us during hurricane season may come back to haunt the state during the winter, as one of the strongest El Nino's on record is sure to cause destructive winter storms in Florida in January and February. The last time such a strong El Nino was in place, Florida saw destructive severe winter thunderstorms and hundreds of tornados. Officials are telling residents to brace themselves for a bad winter.
So all of you in the northern climates dealing with snow, it may not be such a bad thing compared to what Florida may face in the coming months!
Would you rather face tons of snow, or severe winter thunderstorms and tornados?
6 people like this
8 responses
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
2 Dec 15
@moffittjc I am pleased to hear that you have had a decent period of stability, but the track record must still be far worse than we have here.
@moffittjc (128837)
• Gainesville, Florida
2 Dec 15
@Asylum That is true! It only takes one hurricane to hit us and everything is wiped out! We've made it 10 years without one; I'm hoping we can go another 10 years at least, although the odds are against us.
@moffittjc (128837)
• Gainesville, Florida
2 Dec 15
It's rare for Florida to get tornados, and we never get earthquakes. Pretty much the biggest thing we have to worry about is hurricanes. We've been fortunate that we haven't had any hurricanes hit our state in the past 10 years!
@VivaLaDani13 (60812)
• Perth, Australia
15 Jan 17
@moffittjc I can't even imagine what any of that would be like! We have had some thunderstorms but nothing terrifying. Well never near me anyway. A lot of people here including me think it would be fun to have a great adventure of storms. Maybe we are bored here? Maybe we are crazy? Both?
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128837)
• Gainesville, Florida
15 Jan 17
We never got the terrifying winter storms they had predicted we would get at that time period, but our streak of good luck ended in 2016 when we got hit with two major hurricanes. Thankfully, it wasn't as bad as it could have been where I live, as one hurricane hit to the left of us, and the other one hit to the right of us.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128837)
• Gainesville, Florida
2 Dec 15
I'd just be happy if winter would get here! I'm tired of warm weather. Where I am in Florida, we are expected to hit 85 degrees today, which normally is not a bad temperature at all, but it's December and we should be 20 degrees cooler right now! I really wish we'd at least get down in the 60's!
@JESSY3236 (22244)
• United States
2 Dec 15
I want none of that. Just sunshine. lol I hope Florida stays clear of everything.
@moffittjc (128837)
• Gainesville, Florida
2 Dec 15
Yes, sunshine is very nice, but I wish it would cool down a little bit. It just doesn't seem like the holidays when it's still hot outside!
@moffittjc (128837)
• Gainesville, Florida
2 Dec 15
I think I would rather have the snow as well. Last time we had such a strong El Nino, I remember waking up on Christmas Day with tornado warnings and severe weather. It really made it tough to enjoy Christmas knowing that tornados were touching down everywhere that day.
@moffittjc (128837)
• Gainesville, Florida
2 Dec 15
@CRanney Very few homes in Florida have basements, since most of the state is only a few feet above sea level. Our water table is very high, so if you try to dig down about 3-4 feet, you hit water! When you get up to the northern part of the state, and even in the panhandle, I guess maybe some of those homes could have basements, but as a general rule of thumb they are not very common in Florida.
1 person likes this
@CRanney (435)
• Wingham, Ontario
2 Dec 15
@moffittjc Oh man yes! I would be so terrified. DO you have basements there? See that would send me over the edge. Christmas would be cancelled lol
@andriaperry (118793)
• Anniston, Alabama
2 Dec 15
Thunderstorms! I hate snow. But I am not northern I am Alabama. I am baaaccckkk! Glad to read ya.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128837)
• Gainesville, Florida
2 Dec 15
Yeah, but they're saying those thunderstorms can come with numerous tornados! We could have 100 or more this winter!
@JudyEv (382337)
• Rockingham, Australia
2 Dec 15
Is there any difference between a tornado and a hurricane? Luckily I've never experienced either - or even one of them 
@moffittjc (128837)
• Gainesville, Florida
2 Dec 15
I believe tornados pack more destruction into a smaller footprint, but yeah, they both can do a lot of damage.
1 person likes this
