:''For other storms named Hurricane Frances, see Hurricane Frances (disambiguation).'' Hurricane Frances was the sixth named tropical cyclone, the fourth tropical cyclone, and the third major hurricane of the 2004 Atlantic hurricane season. The storm's maximum sustained wind speeds were 145 Miles per hour (230 km/h), giving it a strength of category 4 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. The eye passed over San Salvador Island and very close to Cat Island, Bahamas in the Bahamas, and its outer bands also affected Puerto Rico and the British Virgin Islands.[http://www.qctimes.com/internal.php?story_id=1034422&t=Nation+%2F+World&c=26,1034422] Frances then passed over the central sections of the state of Florida in the United States, moved briefly over the Gulf of Mexico on the other side of Florida, and made a second landfall at the Florida Panhandle. It affected the central regions of Florida just three weeks after Hurricane Charley, which was the United States's second costliest hurricane with about $14 billion in damage. Frances then moved northward into Georgia (U.S. state) where it weakened to a tropical depression. ==Storm history== A strong tropical wave developed into a tropical depression late on August 24, 2004 (EDT). It was then 870 miles (1,400 km) west-southwest of Cape Verde, and about 1,650 miles (2,700 km) east of the Windward Islands. The next day it was upgraded and named ''Tropical Storm Frances'', the eighth Hurricane Frances (disambiguation), bringing ''Frances'' level with Hurricane Arlene as the name applied to the largest number of different Atlantic storms. The storm was upgraded to a hurricane and named ''Hurricane Frances'' on August 26. Frances strengthened rapidly, reaching Category 3 intensity 24 hours later on the August 27 and Category 4 the next day. Initially forecast to turn north and potentially threaten Bermuda, conditions changed and Frances's predicted track shifted westward toward the Bahamas. Frances's intensity fluctuated as it travelled west over the next several days, dropping back to a Category 3 storm before restrengthening. This drop and subsequent restrengthening was likely caused by an eyewall replacement cycle, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC). Over the next several days, Frances passed just north of the Antilles, with only its outer rain bands affecting the British Virgin Islands and the Dominican Republic. On the evening of September 1, Frances passed to the north of Grand Turk in the Turks and Caicos Islands. Although Frances did not strike the island directly, hurricane force winds were reported there. On September 2, Frances struck the Bahamas directly, passing directly over San Salvador Island and very near to Cat Island, Bahamas, and passing over Eleuthera on September 3. Reports from Long Island (Bahamas) said that parts of the island remained underwater after the storm had passed, with numerous homes and other structures damaged. On Saturday, September 4, the airport at Freeport, Grand Bahama was reported to be under 6 to 8 feet of water. One drowning death was reported in Freeport, Grand Bahama. In Nassau an eighteen year old man was reportedly electrocuted when trying to refuel a generator. Nassau, reportedly had seriously devastating winds but a lot less rain than the other islands. A big problem was salt being blown through the air which stung anything in path. Many trees have dead leaves from the force of the blown salt. As one islander put it, "If you ever see an 80 ft [24 m] tree bend down touch the ground then sway back to an upright position -- you will know there is a God in heaven. "[http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/holnus/003200409031631.htm][http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/nation/9569455.htm] One death and looting were reported in some areas. [http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20040903_1737.html] On September 3, Frances weakened slightly as it passed into the vicinity of Abaco and directly over Grand Bahama. The storm weakened from a Category 3 to 2 prior to passing over Grand Bahama and also lessened in forward speed. Parts of South Florida began to be affected by squalls and the outer rainbands of the hurricane at this time. Gusts from 40 mph (60 km/h) to as high as 87 mph (140 km/h) were reported from Jupiter Inlet to Miami. [[Image:Hurricane Frances 5 Sep 2004.jpg|thumb|250px|At 7:26 AM EDT, September 5, 2004, Hurricane Frances was over eastern Florida. According to the National Hurricane Center, at 11:00 AM winds were 80 knot (speed)s with gusts to 100 knots, and movement was west-northwest at 8 knots. High-resolution image courtesy of NOAA.]] Frances moved extremely slowly, from 5 to 10 mi/h (8 to 16 km/h), as it crossed the warm gulf stream between the Bahamas and Florida, leading to fears it could rapidly restrengthen. It remained stable at category 2, though, and battered the east coast of Florida, especially between Fort Pierce, Florida and West Palm Beach, Florida, for most of September 4. At 11pm, the western edge of Frances's eyewall began moving onshore. Because of Frances's large eye of roughly 80 miles (130 km) across and slow motion, the center of circulation remained offshore for several more hours. At 1 am EDT on September 5 (0500 UTC), the center of the broad eye of Frances finally was over Florida, near Sewall's Point, Florida, Port Saint Lucie, Florida, Stuart, Florida, Jensen Beach, Florida and Port Salerno, Florida. Late on September 5, it picked up speed and crossed the Florida, emerging over the Gulf of Mexico near Tampa, Florida as a tropical storm. After a short trip over water, Frances again struck land near St. Marks, Florida. Frances headed inland, weakening to a tropical depression and causing heavy rainfall over the U.S. Southern states. Tropical Depression Frances continued north, maintaining its circulation longer than expected. US forecasters at the Hydrometeorological Prediction Center continued issuing advisories on the remnants of Frances until the system crossed the Canada border into Quebec, where heavy rainfall continued. == Preparations == The insurance industry warned of the potential for catastrophic damage along Florida's heavily-populated east coast. According to a Reuters story, "Investment bank UBS AG warned this latest storm could 'exceed the insured losses of Hurricane Andrew.'" Hurricane Andrew was the most damaging United States hurricane, with insured losses tagged at $15.5 billion and total losses at $26.5 billion. Preparations for the storm were stepped up in Florida on September 1. Governor Jeb Bush declared a state of emergency, John F. Kennedy Space Center closed down, and evacuations of 500,000 people were initially ordered. Eventually 41 counties received evacuation orders, covering 2.8 million residents, the largest evacuation in Florida's history. The state education system also responded to the pending crisis. Many universities across Florida canceled classes. Both the University of Central Florida and the University of North Florida told all students to leave their dorms. Evacuation at the University of South Florida was performed on a dorm-by-dorm basis. Florida Atlantic University was closed for a week and a half. Most schools were shut down from southern West Palm Beach to just south of Melbourne two days before the hurricane. ==Impact== One death in the Bahamas, one in the U.S. state of Ohio, and five in Florida were directly attributed to the storm. 42 more deaths - 32 in Florida, eight in Georgia (U.S. state), one in the Bahamas and one in Ohio, are indirectly attributed to Frances. Among the Florida deaths are the grandson and former son-in-law of Florida State University American football coach Bobby Bowden. The total civilian damage from Frances was determined to be approximately $8,830,000,000. Add in the estimated $100 million damage done to space and military facilities at Cape Canaveral, Florida and the total damage was estimated to be about $9 billion, making it the fourth costliest hurricane in U.S. history (not including damage in the other regions affected), behind Hurricane Andrew of 1992 and Hurricanes Hurricane Charley and Hurricane Ivan of 2004. Some areas of Florida received over 13 inches of rain during the slow onslaught. Much like Hurricane Charley earlier in the month, the Florida citrus crops took large amounts of damage. After the storm was downgraded to a tropical depression, it still dropped inches of rain on Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and North Carolina and South Carolina. Several tornadoes were also spawned by the dying storm. Flooding was reported even in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast states, particularly along the Appalachian Mountains and to the east of Lake Ontario, as well as in parts of southeastern Canada, where more than $45 million in insured damage was reported in Ontario alone. Power outages affected up to six million people. Over 20 airports closed during the storm. Orlando, Florida's theme parks closed Sunday—only the third time Walt Disney World closed for a hurricane, but the second time in a month. In the aftermath of the storm, many colleges and school districts remained closed. [[Image:Vehicle_Assembly_Building_damage_from_Hurricane_Frances_night_view.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Xenon lights illuminate the 525 ft. (160 m) tall Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center, Florida where workers make repairs on September 30, 2004.]] President George W. Bush declared all of Florida a federal disaster area. The passage of tropical depression Frances into Georgia dumped up to 5 inches of rain onto the state and caused the closings of schools in 56 counties. [http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/ap20040907_116.html] Frances also spawned 117 tornados from Florida to as far north as Virginia. This amount beats the record number of tornados for a hurricane, which was 115 for Hurricane Beulah in 1967. Frances caused heavy damage to the large Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center, ripping off over a thousand 4-by-10 foot aluminum panels used to clad the building. While Charley caused $700,000 damage, Frances caused much more. Two external fuel tanks for the space shuttle were in the building but seem undamaged. The Space Shuttle Discovery's hangar was without power. [http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/09/06/nasa.frances.cnn/index.html] The total damage to space and military facilities around Cape Canaveral, Florida was reported at about $100 million. The economic effect was felt early, as the storm struck during Labor Day weekend, traditionally the final summer vacation weekend in the United States. Many hotel reservations from South Carolina to Florida were cancelled as people, seeing the destruction caused weeks earlier by Hurricane Charley, decided to avoid the coastal areas for safety. Because of the impact the storm, the name "Frances" was retired in the Spring of 2005 by the World Meteorological Organization. It will be replaced in 2010 by 'Fiona'. ==Humanity in the Landfall Zone== [[Image:Contents_of_MRE.jpg|thumb|These are the contents of an MRE that was eaten after Hurricane Frances in Palm City, Florida.]] ''The following is partially informative data and remembrance of a personal experience in Palm City, Florida, 5 miles from the landfall point:'' It was known quite early that the area where the hurricane was most likely to hit was in fact Martin County, Florida. A week before landfall most supermarkets such as Publix were full of people buying every last bottle of water, canned food item, and battery in the store. The ubiquitous AA batteries could be found nowhere. Within a few days, finding gasoline used more gasoline than a person was going to buy on the east coast of Florida. People would actually wait most of a day for a gasoline tanker to arrive so they could obtain whatever amount of gas was allotted to them by the station - sometimes only 3 gallons. Many stranded vehicles could be found across the eastern coast of Florida. Most people in the landfall area were already boarded up or shuttered because of the scare from Hurricane Charley, which had been forecasted to head into the general area. Some people took down one or two boards to open up their houses. * September 2nd - Schools closed in the Fort Pierce, Florida to West Palm Beach area * September 3rd - Interstate 95 and the Florida Turnpike were backed up bumper-to-bumper in the largest traffic jam in Florida's history. Flight options were limited as most of the airlines had left the area and with 2.8 million evacuating, the chances of purchasing a ticket wasn't even worth trying. US 1, a major route from Miami, Florida to Maine, was relatively open, but it is full of intersections and traffic signal. * September 4th, 1pm EDT - Dew forms on many objects due to the massive amounts of water in the air and low pressure. * September 4th, 4pm EDT - Driving safely on roads is highly improbable, due to slick roads and 50 mph gusts. * September 4th, 9pm EDT - Most of the storm's force is being felt by the east coast. Most of Florida's power is out due to line losses at and around the St. Lucie Nuclear Power Plant * September 5th, 1am EDT - The eye passes over the landfall point. Many people go outdoors in a silent, eerie, cold, fine mist. * September 6th - Red Cross begins action in the area providing warm meals twice a day for a week as well as water and other needs. National Guard begins providing MRE, water, ice, and occasionally tarps. * September 8th - Every street within 20 miles has mounds of fallen ceiling tiles, insulation, ruined furniture, trees, debris, and more. * September 13th - Roughly 60% of the area's power has been restored. ==External links== * [http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/2004earl.shtml? NHC Tropical Cyclone Report on Hurricane Frances] * [http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2004/refresh/FRANCES+shtml/ NHC advisory archive on Hurricane Frances] * [http://www.myflorida.com/myflorida/frances_preparedness.html State of Florida - Hurricane Frances preparedness] * [http://floridadisaster.org/eoc/frances04.asp Florida Division of Emergency Management - Hurricane Frances] * [http://www.weatherusa.net/blog/ Hurricane news coverage and resources] Atlantic hurricanes 2004 Atlantic hurricane season
I would have waited until September 1. But I think Frances has made it clear that it's going to do something eventually. -- User:Cyrius|User talk:Cyrius 22:54, 31 Aug 2004 (UTC) I kinda like the infobox, but what would we have in it after the storm's gone? Nuke it? And should it be put in all major storm articles? --User:Golbez 05:02, Sep 1, 2004 (UTC) :I'm more worried about people littering images around that are going to be of no use once the storm's over. We're not going to want the storm track image in a week, people. -- User:Cyrius|User talk:Cyrius 11:28, 1 Sep 2004 (UTC) == Getting ready == Okay, it looks like Frances will come pretty close to me just like Charley. I will try to get some NEXRAD picture again, when it comes ashore. User:Awolf002 03:13, 2 Sep 2004 (UTC) :Where are you, now? I'm in Tampa. User:TheCustomOfLife 03:15, Sep 2, 2004 (UTC) Lakeland... Having fun, yet? User:Awolf002 03:32, 2 Sep 2004 (UTC) :I sure am glad nothing's come towards me this season. -- User:Cyrius|User talk:Cyrius 03:44, 2 Sep 2004 (UTC) :We're on the other side of it so we're functioning as normal. If school closings need to be added to the article, the University of Central Florida have canceled classes for the rest of the week, and not only have the University of North Florida canceled classes, they have asked all the students to evacuate the dorms completely. User:TheCustomOfLife 12:23, Sep 2, 2004 (UTC) ::Please, no school closings. That information's too low-level ''and'' of transient interest. -- User:Cyrius|User talk:Cyrius 14:25, 2 Sep 2004 (UTC) :::The information can be removed after the fact. This stuff affects tens of thousands of people and needs to be reported. User:TheCustomOfLife 18:33, Sep 2, 2004 (UTC) ::::Wikipedia is not a news site. It's just very very up to date. -- User:Cyrius|User talk:Cyrius 15:55, 3 Sep 2004 (UTC) :You're right. Let's report the important stuff — and after the fact. User:Awolf002 14:28, 2 Sep 2004 (UTC) I heard this morning that Polk County, Florida will suspend school, Friday. This thing is pretty big and will send us tropical storm winds over here, regardless of where it's going. User:Awolf002 13:04, 2 Sep 2004 (UTC) :Oh, yeah, definitely. My point is that Hillsborough and Pinellas won't be on the brunt of the storm, even when it passes over the state. It seems like it'll head to our north. Like Hernando and Pasco. It's not much to the north but it's enough to spare lots of damage. User:TheCustomOfLife 13:06, Sep 2, 2004 (UTC) Right. Still, cross all the fingers you've got!! User:Awolf002 13:11, 2 Sep 2004 (UTC) :Hey! What about me? I'm heading to Walt Disney World on the 9th. I hope nothing happens on my vacation --User:WikiPediaAid 17:17, 2 Sep 2004 (UTC) (a.k.a. WikiPediaAid) Mmhhh... The NEXRAD picture does not look very instructive right now. We might just want to use a visible pix for the point in time when it makes landfall in FL. Or something completely different User:Awolf002 19:03, 3 Sep 2004 (UTC) ::That's because the center's on the edge of NEXRAD's effective range. It shows up, but not very well. Between the radars in Miami and Melbourne, I think we can get a decent image if Frances holds together. -- User:Cyrius|User talk:Cyrius 19:20, 3 Sep 2004 (UTC) Okay, the [http://radar.weather.gov/radar/latest/DS.p20-r/si.kmlb.shtml Melbourne radar] seems to show some nice resolution of the center. I will concentrate on that one tonight. User:Awolf002 15:09, 4 Sep 2004 (UTC) :Note that the eye looks enormous because it is. NHC says 70 Nautical mile. The other radar to watch is the one in Miami, although it's a bit further from the expected landfall location. -- User:Cyrius|User talk:Cyrius 15:53, 4 Sep 2004 (UTC) == Storm forecasting thread == Here's an ongoing real-time forecast discussion thread on Frances from the storm chase community: http://www.stormtrack.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3436 Stormtrack == Storm Track == I vote to remove the predicted strom track! It's always out of date, and now the caption and picture are out of sync, too. Let's not confuse people! User:Awolf002 13:36, 3 Sep 2004 (UTC) :The storm track can be described in the article itself (and can be changed much easier). User:TheCustomOfLife 13:37, Sep 3, 2004 (UTC) I would prefer to leave it. For me, the more pictures, the better. --User:AAAAA 14:32, 3 Sep 2004 (UTC) :Just as long as people are uploading over the old image and aren't uploading to new file names, I'm not going to argue against it. -- User:Cyrius|User talk:Cyrius 15:55, 3 Sep 2004 (UTC) == Keith Edkins == I only updated because you hadn't changed the time. I thought it was odd that most of the positions and speeds were the same. :) HOWEVER, some aren't, and that's confusing me. Check the diff between you and me; some of my numbers (obtained directly from the NHC) don't match your's. Where did you get your figures from? --User:Golbez 15:48, Sep 3, 2004 (UTC) ==First-hand accounts== Just wanted to check with everyone about this, since I know it might bother some people a little. My entire maternal family is Bahamian, and we've been getting cell phone calls periodically from family telling us what's been happening in the islands. Do you mind me adding in the basic facts from their accounts, even though I can't link to sources? One of my uncles is a hurricane tracker, so it's not like it's coming from completely useless sources, but I want to make sure I don't start adding in information when people might only want information that can be linked to on-line or some such. Maybe it's a ridiculous question, but I figured it's worth asking. (For the record, the only edit with first-hand accounts I've made so far is [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Hurricane_Frances&diff=0&oldid=5637453 here].) User:Beginning 21:24, Sep 3, 2004 (UTC) :Don't see any reason why it shouldn't be - it could be argued that it's Wikipedia:No original research, but I won't muck with it. We'll have to see what a more veteran Wikipedian has to say on the subject, though. --User:Goobergunch 21:31, 3 Sep 2004 (UTC) ::I think this is tricky. I laud your intentions, but Wikipedia is not a news site. It tries to select information from trusted and (at least in principle) verifiable sources, in order to compile all human knowledge. Maybe it's okay to add those if clearly marked as "unverified reports"? But I would expect those sections will be "edited" out as soon as news comes through other more trusted sources. Just my 2 cents. User:Awolf002 21:37, 3 Sep 2004 (UTC) :::I'm aware of the intent and that it's not a news site, but I figured since the page is clearly marked as an "ongoing event", updates on the situation might be worthwhile and completely appropriate. I've since sourced as much as possible, so no "unverified reports" disclaimers should be necessary. I also removed some things that I know to be true from everything we're hearing, but which I can't find actual articles on (I'll check the Nassau papers in a day or two to see if they're fully back yet). Thanks for the input. User:Beginning 22:52, Sep 3, 2004 (UTC) ==Landfall== At the moment, landfall looks imminent at West Palm Beach, Florida. I know the "be bold!" thing and all that, but I wanted to get input. Anyone think it should be changed? User:TheCustomOfLife 19:28, Sep 4, 2004 (UTC) :* glances at radar* Sounds good to me. --User:Goobergunch 19:58, 4 Sep 2004 (UTC)
Well, the western eyewall is now over the coast between Ft. Pierce and West Palm Beach. But I think the NHC will call it landfall when the center of the storm is over land. So not yet... User:Awolf002 01:40, 5 Sep 2004 (UTC)
:Max Mayfield, director of the NHC, said on CNN ''I believe'' (it may have been Larry King saying that Mayfield said it) that landfall occured just north of West Palm Beach. Not a conclusive source, but something. So far as I know, landfall occurs when any portion of the eyewall passes over land. --User:Golbez 01:51, Sep 5, 2004 (UTC)
Okay, then the next Hurricane status update should tell us officially. User:Awolf002 01:53, 5 Sep 2004 (UTC)
:I was wrong; CNN just said landfall only counts when the CENTER of the eye is over land. Isn't this storm completely screwed up? The eye is 50 miles wide and the storm is moving 5mph. The eye will be over areas for up to 10 hours! --User:Golbez 04:34, Sep 5, 2004 (UTC)
::Looks like it doesn't matter anymore. Looks like the center's on shore, or damn close to it. As for being in the eye for a long time, the NHC forecasters have commented on it in the discussions. "those in the path of the center will experience the calm of the eye for a long period of time." -- User:Cyrius|User talk:Cyrius 04:49, 5 Sep 2004 (UTC)
:::CNN reported that the NHC reported at 1am that the center was on shore; since there is no specific update on the website, though, I haven't updated the article. I want specifics. --User:Golbez 05:24, Sep 5, 2004 (UTC)
I switched it back to Fort Pierce a while ago. User:TheCustomOfLife 05:25, Sep 5, 2004 (UTC)
I just now looked at the talk page and saw you all had a surprisingly democratic system going regarding content. I uploaded the landfall radar image [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Bigpicture0457xx.png Bigpicture0457xx.png] for historical purposes... it's actually a pretty neat graphic, but if you decide on something else that's cool. But hopefully it works for you. User:Timvasquez 05:26, 5 Sep 2004 (UTC)
:I think that's a very good graphic to keep once the storm is over. User:TheCustomOfLife 05:29, Sep 5, 2004 (UTC)
Just check with the picture copyright policies of Wikipedia, since your picture has not the "normal" copyright for US governement generated graphics, which makes them free for every use. User:Awolf002 08:29, 5 Sep 2004 (UTC)
:I think that's a very bad graphic to keep because it's non-commercial only and we have adequate public domain substitutes. -- User:Cyrius|User talk:Cyrius 16:37, 5 Sep 2004 (UTC)
::Ok, ok, I updated it to public domain. Awolf: this is not a government-''authored'' image; please see resources on copyright protection of value-added derivatives of government works (e.g. [http://www.lis.uiuc.edu/review/7/caws-elwitt.html here] -- there are industries such as GIS built on this principle). In any case I've removed the image until you all decide what you want to do. User:Timvasquez 16:57, 5 Sep 2004 (UTC)
:::It didn't have to be PD. It's just that we try to avoid licenses with restrictions who can reuse Wikipedia's stuff. It's part of that "free encyclopedia" thing. GFDL would have been just peachy, and there's several others that are acceptable. It's a nice image, and since the licensing seems to be sorted out I'd rather use it than NOAA's single radar views. -- User:Cyrius|User talk:Cyrius 17:37, 5 Sep 2004 (UTC)
: Right, it is a great picture but it had restrictions mentioned. If we can have it under GFDL, that would be nice! User:Awolf002 22:14, 5 Sep 2004 (UTC)
== Evac map ==
I think we should keep the evacuation map around, but only one that shows the highest amount of evacuations; I'm not sure if the one up there now is a more recent one than the original. It would be useful to show just how many evacuations there were, and less so as a news resource. But I'm not sure if the one there now shows the full extent of the evacuations. --User:Golbez 05:59, Sep 5, 2004 (UTC)
:The one that's up now is from the 3rd. If nothing else, we need to clarify that it's not up-to-date at all. User:Beginning 16:31, Sep 5, 2004 (UTC)
== Historical record vs News==
When this article has stablilized and become history, we should use many different versions of :Image:Hurricane Frances track.gif (a pesky gif, should be converted later on too), to illustrate the path as it was expected before and during the storm. User:Sverdrup 15:01, 5 Sep 2004 (UTC)
:Which ones? There's 47 of them on the NHC servers at last count. -- User:Cyrius|User talk:Cyrius 16:39, 5 Sep 2004 (UTC)
::[http://en.wikipedia.org/upload/archive/7/71/20040904141757%21Hurricane_Frances_track.gif this one] is good, I think. User:Sverdrup 17:59, 5 Sep 2004 (UTC)
== Track ==
If someone can come up with a GFDL/PD historical track for Frances, upload it over :Image:Hurricane Frances track.gif. The image has been removed because it contains the forecast track which is, surprise, no longer relevant to the article. On the other hand, a historical track would be quite relevant. -- User:Cyrius|User talk:Cyrius 05:19, 8 Sep 2004 (UTC)
==Territories Affected==
The box currently lists both Florida and the "East Coast of the United States" as affected territories. However, since Florida is part of the East Coast, this reads a little awkwardly to me. Can we change the East Coast part to something more specific? Also, I believe that it was never anything more than a tropical depression beyond Florida, so if the East Coast line is simply referring to the rains from what was left of Frances, maybe it's not necessary to begin with? User:Beginning 13:21, Sep 10, 2004 (UTC)
:Heh, "simply referring". Inland freshwater flooding is the most dangerous and damaging part of a hurricane. Tropical Storm Allison got its name ''retired'' solely on the basis of causing heavy rain as a tropical depression.
:Frances caused heavy rainfall in a large number of states, as can be seen from the [http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/tropical2004/FRANCES/FRANCES_archive.shtml HPC's advisories on the storm]. If you want to list every individual state that received excessive rain separately, go ahead. I just thought it would look silly to do it that way. -- User:Cyrius|User talk:Cyrius 17:51, 10 Sep 2004 (UTC)
::Not to mention a bit inaccurate, since Ohio and western North Carolina are far from the coast. --User:Golbez 17:53, Sep 10, 2004 (UTC)
==UNISYS==
Is UNISYS public domain? Their track maps are awesome.
-User: E. Brown
:According to [http://www.unisys.com/about__unisys/copyright/index.htm their copyright policies]:
::Authorization is hereby provided to you to copy documents published by Unisys Corporation on the World Wide Web provided such copies are used for non-commercial purposes and solely for use within your organization. This authorization is specifically conditioned upon including all legends, copyright, proprietary and other notices which appear herein on all copies you make of such documents whether they pertain to Unisys Corporation or another party.
:So I'd say no to public domain, but yes to fair use. Care to link? --user:tomf688(User talk:Tomf688) 21:31, Apr 30, 2005 (UTC)
Thanks, Tom. Well at least we can link to them. I was hoping that they were public domain so that we could replace the track maps on the induvidual hurricane articles (such as Frances) with the UNISYS track maps. Oh, well.
-User: E. Brown 1 May 2005
:No I think you misunderstood. I'm pretty sure we can use them as long as we put --~~~~
== Personal report ==
Should we have the personal report here, or does that smell too much of original research/essay? --User:Golbez 19:10, May 19, 2005 (UTC)
:Sounds like good information; perhaps it could be integrated into the article somehow. --user:tomf688(User talk:Tomf688) 19:25, May 19, 2005 (UTC)
How can we make sure those reports are accurate and "encyclopedic"? Maybe, people who like to contribute those should be directed to Wikinews? User:Awolf002 20:22, 19 May 2005 (UTC)
I was unsure about this as well, I made sure of the exact times/happenings in the humanity section. And I added a warning before the section. If anyone has any ideas for how the information could be placed into the article better, that would be great. Deleting it wouldnt be good at all as it has useful information such as the number of people evacuated, the complete backup on the interstates, when and what aid and recovery was provided after the storm, etc...User:Thepcnerd
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Words begining with Hurricane_Frances:
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Hurricane Frances
:''For other storms named Hurricane Frances, see Hurricane Frances (disambiguation).'' Hurricane Frances was the sixth named tropical cyclone, the fourth tropical cyclone, and the third major hurricane of the 2004 Atlantic hurricane season. The storm's maximum sustained wind speeds were 145 Miles per hour (230 km/h), giving it a strength of category 4 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. The eye passed over San Salvador Island and very close to Cat Island, Bahamas in the Bahamas, and its outer bands also affected Puerto Rico and the British Virgin Islands.[http://www.qctimes.com/internal.php?story_id=1034422&t=Nation+%2F+World&c=26,1034422] Frances then passed over the central sections of the state of Florida in the United States, moved briefly over the Gulf of Mexico on the other side of Florida, and made a second landfall at the Florida Panhandle. It affected the central regions of Florida just three weeks after Hurricane Charley, which was the United States's second costliest hurricane with about $14 billion in damage. Frances then moved northward into Georgia (U.S. state) where it weakened to a tropical depression. ==Storm history== A strong tropical wave developed into a tropical depression late on August 24, 2004 (EDT). It was then 870 miles (1,400 km) west-southwest of Cape Verde, and about 1,650 miles (2,700 km) east of the Windward Islands. The next day it was upgraded and named ''Tropical Storm Frances'', the eighth Hurricane Frances (disambiguation), bringing ''Frances'' level with Hurricane Arlene as the name applied to the largest number of different Atlantic storms. The storm was upgraded to a hurricane and named ''Hurricane Frances'' on August 26. Frances strengthened rapidly, reaching Category 3 intensity 24 hours later on the August 27 and Category 4 the next day. Initially forecast to turn north and potentially threaten Bermuda, conditions changed and Frances's predicted track shifted westward toward the Bahamas. Frances's intensity fluctuated as it travelled west over the next several days, dropping back to a Category 3 storm before restrengthening. This drop and subsequent restrengthening was likely caused by an eyewall replacement cycle, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC). Over the next several days, Frances passed just north of the Antilles, with only its outer rain bands affecting the British Virgin Islands and the Dominican Republic. On the evening of September 1, Frances passed to the north of Grand Turk in the Turks and Caicos Islands. Although Frances did not strike the island directly, hurricane force winds were reported there. On September 2, Frances struck the Bahamas directly, passing directly over San Salvador Island and very near to Cat Island, Bahamas, and passing over Eleuthera on September 3. Reports from Long Island (Bahamas) said that parts of the island remained underwater after the storm had passed, with numerous homes and other structures damaged. On Saturday, September 4, the airport at Freeport, Grand Bahama was reported to be under 6 to 8 feet of water. One drowning death was reported in Freeport, Grand Bahama. In Nassau an eighteen year old man was reportedly electrocuted when trying to refuel a generator. Nassau, reportedly had seriously devastating winds but a lot less rain than the other islands. A big problem was salt being blown through the air which stung anything in path. Many trees have dead leaves from the force of the blown salt. As one islander put it, "If you ever see an 80 ft [24 m] tree bend down touch the ground then sway back to an upright position -- you will know there is a God in heaven. "[http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/holnus/003200409031631.htm][http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/nation/9569455.htm] One death and looting were reported in some areas. [http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20040903_1737.html] On September 3, Frances weakened slightly as it passed into the vicinity of Abaco and directly over Grand Bahama. The storm weakened from a Category 3 to 2 prior to passing over Grand Bahama and also lessened in forward speed. Parts of South Florida began to be affected by squalls and the outer rainbands of the hurricane at this time. Gusts from 40 mph (60 km/h) to as high as 87 mph (140 km/h) were reported from Jupiter Inlet to Miami. [[Image:Hurricane Frances 5 Sep 2004.jpg|thumb|250px|At 7:26 AM EDT, September 5, 2004, Hurricane Frances was over eastern Florida. According to the National Hurricane Center, at 11:00 AM winds were 80 knot (speed)s with gusts to 100 knots, and movement was west-northwest at 8 knots. High-resolution image courtesy of NOAA.]] Frances moved extremely slowly, from 5 to 10 mi/h (8 to 16 km/h), as it crossed the warm gulf stream between the Bahamas and Florida, leading to fears it could rapidly restrengthen. It remained stable at category 2, though, and battered the east coast of Florida, especially between Fort Pierce, Florida and West Palm Beach, Florida, for most of September 4. At 11pm, the western edge of Frances's eyewall began moving onshore. Because of Frances's large eye of roughly 80 miles (130 km) across and slow motion, the center of circulation remained offshore for several more hours. At 1 am EDT on September 5 (0500 UTC), the center of the broad eye of Frances finally was over Florida, near Sewall's Point, Florida, Port Saint Lucie, Florida, Stuart, Florida, Jensen Beach, Florida and Port Salerno, Florida. Late on September 5, it picked up speed and crossed the Florida, emerging over the Gulf of Mexico near Tampa, Florida as a tropical storm. After a short trip over water, Frances again struck land near St. Marks, Florida. Frances headed inland, weakening to a tropical depression and causing heavy rainfall over the U.S. Southern states. Tropical Depression Frances continued north, maintaining its circulation longer than expected. US forecasters at the Hydrometeorological Prediction Center continued issuing advisories on the remnants of Frances until the system crossed the Canada border into Quebec, where heavy rainfall continued. == Preparations == The insurance industry warned of the potential for catastrophic damage along Florida's heavily-populated east coast. According to a Reuters story, "Investment bank UBS AG warned this latest storm could 'exceed the insured losses of Hurricane Andrew.'" Hurricane Andrew was the most damaging United States hurricane, with insured losses tagged at $15.5 billion and total losses at $26.5 billion. Preparations for the storm were stepped up in Florida on September 1. Governor Jeb Bush declared a state of emergency, John F. Kennedy Space Center closed down, and evacuations of 500,000 people were initially ordered. Eventually 41 counties received evacuation orders, covering 2.8 million residents, the largest evacuation in Florida's history. The state education system also responded to the pending crisis. Many universities across Florida canceled classes. Both the University of Central Florida and the University of North Florida told all students to leave their dorms. Evacuation at the University of South Florida was performed on a dorm-by-dorm basis. Florida Atlantic University was closed for a week and a half. Most schools were shut down from southern West Palm Beach to just south of Melbourne two days before the hurricane. ==Impact== One death in the Bahamas, one in the U.S. state of Ohio, and five in Florida were directly attributed to the storm. 42 more deaths - 32 in Florida, eight in Georgia (U.S. state), one in the Bahamas and one in Ohio, are indirectly attributed to Frances. Among the Florida deaths are the grandson and former son-in-law of Florida State University American football coach Bobby Bowden. The total civilian damage from Frances was determined to be approximately $8,830,000,000. Add in the estimated $100 million damage done to space and military facilities at Cape Canaveral, Florida and the total damage was estimated to be about $9 billion, making it the fourth costliest hurricane in U.S. history (not including damage in the other regions affected), behind Hurricane Andrew of 1992 and Hurricanes Hurricane Charley and Hurricane Ivan of 2004. Some areas of Florida received over 13 inches of rain during the slow onslaught. Much like Hurricane Charley earlier in the month, the Florida citrus crops took large amounts of damage. After the storm was downgraded to a tropical depression, it still dropped inches of rain on Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and North Carolina and South Carolina. Several tornadoes were also spawned by the dying storm. Flooding was reported even in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast states, particularly along the Appalachian Mountains and to the east of Lake Ontario, as well as in parts of southeastern Canada, where more than $45 million in insured damage was reported in Ontario alone. Power outages affected up to six million people. Over 20 airports closed during the storm. Orlando, Florida's theme parks closed Sunday—only the third time Walt Disney World closed for a hurricane, but the second time in a month. In the aftermath of the storm, many colleges and school districts remained closed. [[Image:Vehicle_Assembly_Building_damage_from_Hurricane_Frances_night_view.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Xenon lights illuminate the 525 ft. (160 m) tall Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center, Florida where workers make repairs on September 30, 2004.]] President George W. Bush declared all of Florida a federal disaster area. The passage of tropical depression Frances into Georgia dumped up to 5 inches of rain onto the state and caused the closings of schools in 56 counties. [http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/ap20040907_116.html] Frances also spawned 117 tornados from Florida to as far north as Virginia. This amount beats the record number of tornados for a hurricane, which was 115 for Hurricane Beulah in 1967. Frances caused heavy damage to the large Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center, ripping off over a thousand 4-by-10 foot aluminum panels used to clad the building. While Charley caused $700,000 damage, Frances caused much more. Two external fuel tanks for the space shuttle were in the building but seem undamaged. The Space Shuttle Discovery's hangar was without power. [http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/09/06/nasa.frances.cnn/index.html] The total damage to space and military facilities around Cape Canaveral, Florida was reported at about $100 million. The economic effect was felt early, as the storm struck during Labor Day weekend, traditionally the final summer vacation weekend in the United States. Many hotel reservations from South Carolina to Florida were cancelled as people, seeing the destruction caused weeks earlier by Hurricane Charley, decided to avoid the coastal areas for safety. Because of the impact the storm, the name "Frances" was retired in the Spring of 2005 by the World Meteorological Organization. It will be replaced in 2010 by 'Fiona'. ==Humanity in the Landfall Zone== [[Image:Contents_of_MRE.jpg|thumb|These are the contents of an MRE that was eaten after Hurricane Frances in Palm City, Florida.]] ''The following is partially informative data and remembrance of a personal experience in Palm City, Florida, 5 miles from the landfall point:'' It was known quite early that the area where the hurricane was most likely to hit was in fact Martin County, Florida. A week before landfall most supermarkets such as Publix were full of people buying every last bottle of water, canned food item, and battery in the store. The ubiquitous AA batteries could be found nowhere. Within a few days, finding gasoline used more gasoline than a person was going to buy on the east coast of Florida. People would actually wait most of a day for a gasoline tanker to arrive so they could obtain whatever amount of gas was allotted to them by the station - sometimes only 3 gallons. Many stranded vehicles could be found across the eastern coast of Florida. Most people in the landfall area were already boarded up or shuttered because of the scare from Hurricane Charley, which had been forecasted to head into the general area. Some people took down one or two boards to open up their houses. * September 2nd - Schools closed in the Fort Pierce, Florida to West Palm Beach area * September 3rd - Interstate 95 and the Florida Turnpike were backed up bumper-to-bumper in the largest traffic jam in Florida's history. Flight options were limited as most of the airlines had left the area and with 2.8 million evacuating, the chances of purchasing a ticket wasn't even worth trying. US 1, a major route from Miami, Florida to Maine, was relatively open, but it is full of intersections and traffic signal. * September 4th, 1pm EDT - Dew forms on many objects due to the massive amounts of water in the air and low pressure. * September 4th, 4pm EDT - Driving safely on roads is highly improbable, due to slick roads and 50 mph gusts. * September 4th, 9pm EDT - Most of the storm's force is being felt by the east coast. Most of Florida's power is out due to line losses at and around the St. Lucie Nuclear Power Plant * September 5th, 1am EDT - The eye passes over the landfall point. Many people go outdoors in a silent, eerie, cold, fine mist. * September 6th - Red Cross begins action in the area providing warm meals twice a day for a week as well as water and other needs. National Guard begins providing MRE, water, ice, and occasionally tarps. * September 8th - Every street within 20 miles has mounds of fallen ceiling tiles, insulation, ruined furniture, trees, debris, and more. * September 13th - Roughly 60% of the area's power has been restored. ==External links== * [http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/2004earl.shtml? NHC Tropical Cyclone Report on Hurricane Frances] * [http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2004/refresh/FRANCES+shtml/ NHC advisory archive on Hurricane Frances] * [http://www.myflorida.com/myflorida/frances_preparedness.html State of Florida - Hurricane Frances preparedness] * [http://floridadisaster.org/eoc/frances04.asp Florida Division of Emergency Management - Hurricane Frances] * [http://www.weatherusa.net/blog/ Hurricane news coverage and resources] Atlantic hurricanes 2004 Atlantic hurricane season
Hurricane Frances
I would have waited until September 1. But I think Frances has made it clear that it's going to do something eventually. -- User:Cyrius|User talk:Cyrius 22:54, 31 Aug 2004 (UTC) I kinda like the infobox, but what would we have in it after the storm's gone? Nuke it? And should it be put in all major storm articles? --User:Golbez 05:02, Sep 1, 2004 (UTC) :I'm more worried about people littering images around that are going to be of no use once the storm's over. We're not going to want the storm track image in a week, people. -- User:Cyrius|User talk:Cyrius 11:28, 1 Sep 2004 (UTC) == Getting ready == Okay, it looks like Frances will come pretty close to me just like Charley. I will try to get some NEXRAD picture again, when it comes ashore. User:Awolf002 03:13, 2 Sep 2004 (UTC) :Where are you, now? I'm in Tampa. User:TheCustomOfLife 03:15, Sep 2, 2004 (UTC) Lakeland... Having fun, yet? User:Awolf002 03:32, 2 Sep 2004 (UTC) :I sure am glad nothing's come towards me this season. -- User:Cyrius|User talk:Cyrius 03:44, 2 Sep 2004 (UTC) :We're on the other side of it so we're functioning as normal. If school closings need to be added to the article, the University of Central Florida have canceled classes for the rest of the week, and not only have the University of North Florida canceled classes, they have asked all the students to evacuate the dorms completely. User:TheCustomOfLife 12:23, Sep 2, 2004 (UTC) ::Please, no school closings. That information's too low-level ''and'' of transient interest. -- User:Cyrius|User talk:Cyrius 14:25, 2 Sep 2004 (UTC) :::The information can be removed after the fact. This stuff affects tens of thousands of people and needs to be reported. User:TheCustomOfLife 18:33, Sep 2, 2004 (UTC) ::::Wikipedia is not a news site. It's just very very up to date. -- User:Cyrius|User talk:Cyrius 15:55, 3 Sep 2004 (UTC) :You're right. Let's report the important stuff — and after the fact. User:Awolf002 14:28, 2 Sep 2004 (UTC) I heard this morning that Polk County, Florida will suspend school, Friday. This thing is pretty big and will send us tropical storm winds over here, regardless of where it's going. User:Awolf002 13:04, 2 Sep 2004 (UTC) :Oh, yeah, definitely. My point is that Hillsborough and Pinellas won't be on the brunt of the storm, even when it passes over the state. It seems like it'll head to our north. Like Hernando and Pasco. It's not much to the north but it's enough to spare lots of damage. User:TheCustomOfLife 13:06, Sep 2, 2004 (UTC) Right. Still, cross all the fingers you've got!! User:Awolf002 13:11, 2 Sep 2004 (UTC) :Hey! What about me? I'm heading to Walt Disney World on the 9th. I hope nothing happens on my vacation --User:WikiPediaAid 17:17, 2 Sep 2004 (UTC) (a.k.a. WikiPediaAid) Mmhhh... The NEXRAD picture does not look very instructive right now. We might just want to use a visible pix for the point in time when it makes landfall in FL. Or something completely different User:Awolf002 19:03, 3 Sep 2004 (UTC) ::That's because the center's on the edge of NEXRAD's effective range. It shows up, but not very well. Between the radars in Miami and Melbourne, I think we can get a decent image if Frances holds together. -- User:Cyrius|User talk:Cyrius 19:20, 3 Sep 2004 (UTC) Okay, the [http://radar.weather.gov/radar/latest/DS.p20-r/si.kmlb.shtml Melbourne radar] seems to show some nice resolution of the center. I will concentrate on that one tonight. User:Awolf002 15:09, 4 Sep 2004 (UTC) :Note that the eye looks enormous because it is. NHC says 70 Nautical mile. The other radar to watch is the one in Miami, although it's a bit further from the expected landfall location. -- User:Cyrius|User talk:Cyrius 15:53, 4 Sep 2004 (UTC) == Storm forecasting thread == Here's an ongoing real-time forecast discussion thread on Frances from the storm chase community: http://www.stormtrack.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3436 Stormtrack == Storm Track == I vote to remove the predicted strom track! It's always out of date, and now the caption and picture are out of sync, too. Let's not confuse people! User:Awolf002 13:36, 3 Sep 2004 (UTC) :The storm track can be described in the article itself (and can be changed much easier). User:TheCustomOfLife 13:37, Sep 3, 2004 (UTC) I would prefer to leave it. For me, the more pictures, the better. --User:AAAAA 14:32, 3 Sep 2004 (UTC) :Just as long as people are uploading over the old image and aren't uploading to new file names, I'm not going to argue against it. -- User:Cyrius|User talk:Cyrius 15:55, 3 Sep 2004 (UTC) == Keith Edkins == I only updated because you hadn't changed the time. I thought it was odd that most of the positions and speeds were the same. :) HOWEVER, some aren't, and that's confusing me. Check the diff between you and me; some of my numbers (obtained directly from the NHC) don't match your's. Where did you get your figures from? --User:Golbez 15:48, Sep 3, 2004 (UTC) ==First-hand accounts== Just wanted to check with everyone about this, since I know it might bother some people a little. My entire maternal family is Bahamian, and we've been getting cell phone calls periodically from family telling us what's been happening in the islands. Do you mind me adding in the basic facts from their accounts, even though I can't link to sources? One of my uncles is a hurricane tracker, so it's not like it's coming from completely useless sources, but I want to make sure I don't start adding in information when people might only want information that can be linked to on-line or some such. Maybe it's a ridiculous question, but I figured it's worth asking. (For the record, the only edit with first-hand accounts I've made so far is [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Hurricane_Frances&diff=0&oldid=5637453 here].) User:Beginning 21:24, Sep 3, 2004 (UTC) :Don't see any reason why it shouldn't be - it could be argued that it's Wikipedia:No original research, but I won't muck with it. We'll have to see what a more veteran Wikipedian has to say on the subject, though. --User:Goobergunch 21:31, 3 Sep 2004 (UTC) ::I think this is tricky. I laud your intentions, but Wikipedia is not a news site. It tries to select information from trusted and (at least in principle) verifiable sources, in order to compile all human knowledge. Maybe it's okay to add those if clearly marked as "unverified reports"? But I would expect those sections will be "edited" out as soon as news comes through other more trusted sources. Just my 2 cents. User:Awolf002 21:37, 3 Sep 2004 (UTC) :::I'm aware of the intent and that it's not a news site, but I figured since the page is clearly marked as an "ongoing event", updates on the situation might be worthwhile and completely appropriate. I've since sourced as much as possible, so no "unverified reports" disclaimers should be necessary. I also removed some things that I know to be true from everything we're hearing, but which I can't find actual articles on (I'll check the Nassau papers in a day or two to see if they're fully back yet). Thanks for the input. User:Beginning 22:52, Sep 3, 2004 (UTC) ==Landfall== At the moment, landfall looks imminent at West Palm Beach, Florida. I know the "be bold!" thing and all that, but I wanted to get input. Anyone think it should be changed? User:TheCustomOfLife 19:28, Sep 4, 2004 (UTC) :
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