20 Year Anniversary of the 2004 Hurricane Season

The 2004 Atlantic hurricane season was among the most devastating on record. The year’s storms claimed over 3100 lives, the second largest toll in three decades; 60 of these occurred in the United States. The United States suffered a record $51 billion in property damage, enduring landfalls from five hurricanes (Charley, Frances, Gaston, Ivan, and Jeanne) and the eyewall passage of a sixth (Alex) that avoided landfall on the North Carolina Outer Banks by less than 10 miles. In addition, Bonnie, Hermine, and Matthew made landfall in the United States as tropical storms. Florida, the “Sunshine State,” became known as the Plywood State after being battered by Charley, Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne. The islands of the Caribbean were also hard hit. Charley struck Cuba as a major hurricane [maximum 1-min winds of greater than 96 kt (110 mph), corresponding to category 3 or higher on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane scale. Ivan was also a major hurricane in the Caribbean, causing extensive destruction on Grenada, Jamaica, and Grand Cayman, and Jeanne produced catastrophic flash floods in Haiti that killed thousands and left hundreds of thousands homeless.

Fifteen named storms developed in 2004, including Nicole, a subtropical storm (see table below). Nine of the named systems became hurricanes, and of these, six became major hurricanes. One additional tropical depression did not reach storm strength. These totals were considerably above the long-term (1944–2003) means of 10.2 named storms, 6.0 hurricanes, and 2.6 major hurricanes. August alone saw the formation of eight tropical storms, a new record for that month. The season also featured intense and long-lived hurricanes. Ivan, a category 5 storm, twice reached a minimum pressure of 910 mb, a value surpassed by only five other previous tropical cyclones in the Atlantic basin historical record. In addition, Ivan was a major hurricane for a total of 10 days, a new record for a single storm since reliable records began in 1944.

^a TD = Tropical Depression, maximum sustained wind speed 33 kt (38 mph) or less;
  T = Tropical Storm and SS = Subtropical Storm, maximum sustained wind speed 34–63 kt (39–73 mph);
  H = Hurricane, maximum sustained wind speed 64-95 kt (74-110 mph);
  MH = Major Hurricane, maximum sustained wind speed 96 kt (111 mph) or higher.
^b Dates begin at 0000 UTC and include tropical and subtropical depression stages, but exclude extratropical stage.
^c Only minor damage was reported, but the extent of the damage was not quantified.

The tropical storm force winds were confined to the coastal sections east of where the center made landfall in the Florida Big Bend. Rainfall amounts ranged from about 1 to 3 inches in north Florida, with the highest amounts occurring in parts of the eastern Carolinas as the system moved up the U.S. east coast.

Hurricane Charley was a fast moving and compact storm. It moved across the Florida peninsula at about 20 mph, which resulted in hurricane-force winds crossing the entire peninsula. However, since it was compact, with the radius of maximum winds only about 7 miles, the damage path was rather narrow.

Rainfall amounts from Charley were limited thanks to its rather quick movement across the Florida peninsula, but locations near the track did see upwards of 5 to 7 inches of rain, with the highest amount just under 10 inches being recorded at Bud Slough near Myakka City in southern Manatee County.

The strongest winds with Hurricane Frances occurred on the east coast of Florida near landfall, then decreased as it moved slowly west-northwest across the Florida peninsula with the system diminishing to a Tropical Storm as it moved across central Florida.

Thanks to the slow motion of Frances the most significant impact to West Central and Southwest Florida was heavy rainfall, with upwards of 10 to 15 inches across much of the Nature Coast, which caused water levels to rise on several area rivers leading to significant flooding.

The strongest winds with Hurricane Ivan occurred over Perdido Key and Perdido Bay located between Gulf Shores, Alabama and Pensacola, Florida, then decreased as it moved north-northeast across Alabama.

The track of Ivan was far enough to the west that West Central and Southwest Florida ended up in the drier subsident air to the east of the system with very little if any rain, though two tornadoes occurred in Levy County. There were some showers and thunderstorms associated with the remnants as they looped back south several days after the initial landfall in Alabama.

Observations indicate that a swath of hurricane force sustained winds about 90 n mi wide affected the Florida east coast from near Cape Canaveral southward to near Stuart. Sustained hurricane force winds spread westward and inland about halfway across Florida and tropical storm force winds affected a large portion of the remainder of central Florida.

Widespread rainfall of 5 to 8 inches accompanied Hurricane Jeanne as it moved across eastern, central and northern Florida. A narrow band of 11 to 13 inches was observed in the vicinity of the eyewall track over Osceola, Brevard and Indian River counties of east central Florida.