Idalia Makes Landfall As Category 3 Storm Near Keaton Beach, Fla.
Hurricane Idalia, the ninth named storm of the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season, made landfall August 29 near Keaton Beach, Fla., in the state’s Big Bend area, with maximum sustained winds of 125 mph.
Idalia made landfall as a Category 3 storm, after strengthening briefly to a Category 4 storm. According to meteorologists, the storm was going through an “eyewall replacement cycle” shortly before landfall, which likely resulted in slightly less winds and storm surge as it came ashore.
With the storm coming ashore just east of the eastern terminus of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW), navigation impacts on the waterway from the storm were minimal. By the morning following Idalia’s landfall, U.S. Coast Guard Sector Mobile announced Port Status Normal for all ports and waterways within its area of responsibility. The only exception was the GIWW east of Mile 312 (between Panama City and Port St. Joe), which remained at Port Status Zulu after the storm pending completion of channel surveys. Those surveys were completed August 31, with Sector Mobile announcing Port Status Normal for its entire area of responsibility that afternoon.
Gulf Intracoastal Canal Association President Paul Dittman reported very minimal lingering impacts to commercial navigation on the GIWW due to how far east of the waterway the storm made landfall.
The storm came just a couple of weeks after the Climate Prediction Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) updated its Atlantic hurricane season outlook, which was first released in May. The Climate Prediction Center is now forecasting an “above normal” season. The forecast in May called for a “near normal” hurricane season.
“The outlook now includes a 70 percent chance of 14-21 named storms, of which 6-11 could become hurricanes, and 2-5 could become major hurricanes,” the Climate Prediction Center said in announcing the change. “The updated outlook also states that current conditions are likely to counterbalance the usually limiting atmospheric conditions associated with the ongoing El Niño event.”
Surface sea temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico have hovered near all-time highs for much of the summer. Idalia’s rapid intensification was largely attributed to the Gulf’s warm waters, which have ranged from the mid-80s to almost 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
NOAA officials note that, while El Niño is often attributed with inhibited storm development in the Atlantic Ocean, the weather pattern does not affect development of systems in the Gulf.
The Atlantic hurricane season traditionally lasts from June 1 through November 30. However, the 2023 tropical season had an unusually early start with NOAA issuing warnings January 16 for a system north of Bermuda. That system grew into an unnamed subtropical storm off the coast of Nantucket, Mass., and made landfall near Louisbourg, Nova Scotia, Canada, on January 17.
