By: Danny Scarmack 

In Ohio none of us ever really worry about the hurricane season, but according to the Florida Climate Center, “The threat of hurricanes is very real for Florida during the six-month long Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 until November 30. The peak of hurricane season occurs between mid-August and late October, when the waters in the equatorial Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico have warmed enough to help support the development of tropical waves.” A few weeks ago on October 1, Hurricane Ian devastated parts of Florida’s Westcoast as it made its initial landfall as a category 4 hurricane. Its warpath continued through the rest of Florida and then through parts of North Carolina before its route quickly changed it and headed back out to sea. By the end of its terror it left over one hundred people dead and more than a million without power. Hubbard High School senior, Joey Green says it best, “In the days leading up to the hurricane making landfall it’s always hard for me to imagine what the storm is actually going to do or damage. But once it’s over, the damage is hard to even imagine.” In order to understand the monumental impact it had it helps to understand what a hurricane actually is and how they are categorized.

In order for a tropical storm to be identified as a hurricane the storm’s maximum sustained wind speed must exceed 74 mph. Once this happens the classification then transitions to what is known as the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. This scale classifies these storms on a scale of one to five thoroughly examining its wind velocity, central pressure and the height of storm surge. For hurricane Ian specifically, with it being a category 4 hurricane Floridians experienced wind speeds from 130 to 156 mph. For this category of hurricane the official damage summary is, “Catastrophic damage will occur”. 

Now, how does this affect the rest of America? Even though the rest of us aren’t physically affected by Hurricane Ian, it still finds a way to interpret our daily lives. The biggest way, gas prices. Whenever there is a hurricane a sudden spike in gas prices is always anticipated. The price of gas affects the vast majority of us since we heavily rely on vehicles for everyday travel. Junior Tyler Wright was surprised to hear that a hurricane so far south could have such a major effect on him. He stated that, “It is crazy to think that Hurricane Ian was responsible for the sudden gas spike. Gas prices are already high enough and nobody wants them to increase more.” He does an incredible job representing what most American drivers are thinking. 

https://climatecenter.fsu.edu/topics/hurricanes#:~:text=The%20threat%20of%20hurricanes%20is,June%201%20until%20November%2030. 

https://abcnews.go.com/US/live-updates/hurricane-ian/?id=90445860 

https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/hurricane.html