Hindsight 2020: The good, the bad and the ugly from this year's weather
By
Adriana Navarro, AccuWeather staff writer
Updated Jan 3, 2021 7:09 PM EDT
As 2020 comes to a close, AccuWeather takes a look back at some of the biggest weather stories of the year.
The year 2020 was definitely a doozy, even in the field of weather coverage as events seemed to constantly step out of bounds -- tornadoes running rampant seemingly everywhere but in the heart of Tornado Alley, western wildfires reaching into Washington state while the smoke drifted above Atlantic hurricanes and even an "inland hurricane" that charged through the central Plains.
However, as chaotic and uncertain as this year was, there were breaks in the storms and silver linings that followed -- areas often heavily targeted by tropical storms dodged multiple threats this year, some residents in Southern California experienced their first snowfall, and there were some sights that graced the night sky this year that hadn't been seen for centuries.
With all that said, here's a list of some of the top weather events that showed the good, the bad and the ugly of 2020's exasperating character.
On Easter morning, 20 seconds were all that stood between Andrew Phillips and the wrath of a tornado spawned from an outbreak of severe weather over the holiday weekend that claimed the lives of at least 34 people across six states. In those 20 seconds, he ducked into a safe room with his family, shielding them with his body. The cinderblock room had been one of the reasons they had bought the home, which they had lived in for only a few weeks prior to the storm, Phillips told The Associated Press.
The tornado left next to nothing standing in its wake -- destroying the family's home, the building of their meat processing business and their car. However, the safe room withstood the winds, and the family emerged unharmed.
Amber Phillips stands outside the family's safe room, located on their property in Moss, Miss., following a tornado, Monday, April 13, 2020. While the rest of their home was obliterated in a matter of seconds Sunday afternoon, Andrew Phillips, his wife Amber and their kids, ages 2 and 6 months, survived the storm without a scratch inside the small safe room, which doubles as a closet. (Andrew Phillips via AP)
(Andrew Phillips via AP)
Phillips' home in Moss, Mississippi, was one of the dozens struck by the outbreak of violent weather that swept across the southern United States into the Northeast from April 12-13, 2020. A total of 140 tornadoes were confirmed from the outbreak, claiming 34 lives. The deaths attributed to the outbreak pushed 2020 ahead as the deadliest year for tornadoes since 2011, during which a total of 551 fatalities were blamed on tornadoes -- the most in the 62-year period of record keeping. The 2020 tornado season recorded a total of 78 fatalities.
"Of the 78 fatalities for 2020, 36 were confirmed to have occurred in mobile or manufactured homes, once again showing the increased risk for those who live in such dwellings," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Randy Adkins said.
The tornadoes had not only spawned across 10 states from Louisiana to Maryland, but they also hit densely populated regions. Typically, tornado-prone areas in the southern Plains are where communities tend to be spread farther apart, providing a better chance for tornadoes to pass through open fields and plains without causing as much damage. In addition, many of the injuries and fatalities had occurred with the stronger tornadoes during the nighttime, AccuWeather Meteorologist Jake Sodja had said at the time.
Three of the tornadoes were rated at EF4 strength, and all but one of which had torn through Mississippi. The fourth had torn through Hampton, South Carolina. Georgia ranked as the state with the most tornadoes spawned from the storm at 30.
The combined total length of the tornado paths amounted to nearly 938.68 miles, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).
Based on preliminary data released at the beginning of December, about 11 National Weather Service offices recorded more tornadoes in their area than the office in Wichita, Kanas -- which lies directly in the heart of Tornado Alley.
At the top of the list sits the Philadelphia office in Mount Holly, New Jersey, which recorded 23 more tornadoes that the Wichita office this year. Some other oddballs include Albany, New York, which reported 15 more tornadoes, Portland, Oregon, which had four more tornadoes, and Portland, Maine, which also recorded four more tornadoes.
Some of these tornadoes in the Northeast can be attributed to the remnants of hurricanes that overstayed their welcome, such as Category 1 Hurricane Isaias' run up the Eastern Seaboard. At least three dozen tornadoes were confirmed in its aftermath.
One of the tornadoes spawned by the storm struck as far north as Dover, Delaware, where Max Ollendorff and his daughter felt their hotel room shutter as the twister churned through the parking lot.
"[A] Tornado touched down behind our hotel in Dover, Delaware. Trees shredded. Several cars under branches. I felt the whole building shudder," Ollendorff posted on the social media outlet.
A small business owner who works at trade show exhibits and corporate events, Ollendorff had traveled from Southern California to Dover with his daughter for a soccer camp, but a portion of the events were canceled because of the storm.
"I could hear a bit of a rumble," Ollendorff told AccuWeather over a Zoom interview. "And what I would describe as a crackling and then I came out to the front of the room where my daughter was still sleeping, and yeah," he marveled, "it was pretty radical to see a swath of these trees behind me cut down."
"Dread" was the one-word response AccuWeather's Lead Hurricane Expert Dan Kottlowski gave when asked about his reaction to the company's team of tropical weather forecasters concluding that the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season would be a long one.
That prediction began coming true early, the season had already powered three named storms by the first of June, the official start of the Atlantic basin hurricane season.
"It was almost like an omen," Kottlowski said. "Historically, when you have three storms named by June 1, you're going to have a busy season. It just always seems that way."
The season would later break 2005's record for the most named storms, producing up to 30 and delving into the Greek alphabet for the second time in recorded history by mid-September.
"I think the sheer number of storms was just really, very, very, very tough on all forecasters," Kottlwoski said. "Especially during the latter half of the season like as we got into late September and October."
As the season pushed onward, the storms didn't let up until the end of October, amounting to a long, drawn-out marathon of a season.
"I'd say it was one of the most challenging, if not the most challenging, season we had just because of the number of storms," Kottlowski said. By the end of the season, the U.S. had been hit by these tropical storms and hurricanes 12 times, 13 if you count Arthur, which didn't make landfall but still caused significant damage along the coast of North Carolina.
2020 etched itself into the record books as the season with the most named systems, with its 30 named storms beating out the 27 named storms in 2005. Nearly half of those 30 storms became hurricanes, and six of those became major hurricanes -- Category 3 or stronger.
But while 2020 had a rapid-fire pacing of tropical systems, Kottlowski pointed out that the storms were, overall, weaker than the cyclones the 2005 season had produced.
Meteorologists measure the power of hurricanes through the ACE Index, or the accumulated cyclone energy index, which accounts for the maximum sustained wind speed and duration of these systems while they are at tropical storm intensity or higher. In turn, this means that the higher the wind speed and the longer-lived the storm, the higher it will rate on the index. Overall, the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season had an ACE rating of 179.8, while the 2005 season had a rating of 250.
A silver lining from the season, however, was that for as many storms as there were, certain areas that were more prone to tropical systems such as the Florida Peninsula had "dodged a bullet," as Kottlowski put it.
"This [season], by far, will be on people's minds for a long time."
Todd Miller and his family had had their fair share of storms -- Rita, Humberto, Ike, even flooding from Harvey -- when they lived in Deweyville, Texas. Hoping to evade any future storms, they packed up their bags and moved to Vinton, Louisiana, a town in southwestern Louisiana, about 20 miles west of Lake Charles. Others had told him that the area had recovered "in no time" after intense storms like Rita and Ike.
Then came Hurricane Laura.
This GOES-16 GeoColor satellite image taken Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2020, at 2:40 p.m. EDT., and provided by NOAA, shows Hurricane Laura over the Gulf of Mexico. Hurricane Laura strengthened Wednesday into “an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane," The National Hurricane Center said. (NOAA via AP)
(NOAA via AP)
"I'd have to say Laura was the most challenging storm," Kottlowski said, but he clarified the forecasting challenges his team faced were not from the standpoint of its strength, but from its track. "Typically, a storm that takes the track that Laura took, usually those storms don't survive very well."
For instance, Laura's track took it over Hispaniola, but just south of the higher terrain that could have killed the storm in the Caribbean.
"I kept telling people it was an opportunistic storm," Kottlowski said. "And then, when it emerged off the northwestern coast of Cuba, it just exploded."
A satellite loop showing Laura progress from a tropical storm over the Caribbean to a Category 4 hurricane that made landfall on the U.S. Gulf Coast. (AccuWeather)
(AccuWeather)
The storm intensified by 70% in power within 24 hours by Aug. 26 to become a Category 3 hurricane, the first major hurricane of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season. And it wasn't finished growing.
By the afternoon of Aug. 26, the NOAA Hurricane Hunters found Laura had become an "extremely dangerous" Category 4 hurricane. Less than 24 hours later, Laura slammed into Cameron, Louisiana, with winds just 7 mph shy of a Category 5 hurricane.
Hurricane Laura approaching the Gulf Coast on Wednesday evening. (NOAA/GOES-East)
Still, damage from the storm was nothing to take lightly. Laura made landfall in southwestern Louisiana, at 1 a.m. CDT on Aug. 27 with sustained winds of 150 mph, becoming the strongest hurricane to strike southwestern Louisiana since records began in 1851 and the strongest hurricane on record to make landfall in the state in over 150 years.
Miller told AccuWeather National Reporter Bill Wadell that he and his family "had to hunker down." They flipped a couch and had their kids crawl into what Miller described as the "little cubby hole" under the piece of furniture. They then took a mattress, setting it on top of the opening to protect them from the wrath of the hurricane.
"[We] Just rode it out," Miller said. "Just kept watching the ceiling come apart. The bigger the hole got, the more of the storm we could see."
A little more than 30 miles southeast of Vinton, storm surge in Rutherford Beach, Louisiana, reached up to a whopping 17.2 feet above ground level, tearing into homes held aloft on stilts. To put that height into perspective, 17.2 feet is almost as tall as an adult giraffe, or nearly twice the official height of a basketball rim.
A damaged home is shown Friday, Aug. 28, 2020, in Hackberry, La., after Hurricane Laura move through the area Thursday. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
At least 32 fatalities were recorded from the storm in Louisiana and Texas alone, the majority of which followed the wake of the hurricane due to treacherous conditions or carbon monoxide poisoning from generators used in buildings without electricity. Dozens more lives were lost in the Caribbean, primarily in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, from Laura.
The impact that Laura wrought would set the stage for following storms, such as Tropical Storm Marco and Hurricane Delta, to exacerbate the damage in the area.
Linda Smoot, who evacuated from Hurricane Laura in a pickup truck with eight others, reacts as they return to see their homes, in Lake Charles, La., in the aftermath of the hurricane, Sunday, Aug. 30, 2020. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Before Hurricane Laura could make landfall in late August, a different storm tore through the Central states with winds comparable to hurricane strength.
On Aug. 10, a derecho, a swift-moving complex of thunderstorms, caused extensive wind damage over hundreds of miles through Iowa and northern Illinois.
“Maximum estimated winds were around 140 mph, which caused extensive damage to an apartment complex in southwest Cedar Rapids, Iowa,” the National Weather Service said. “The maximum measured unofficial wind gust was 126 mph at Atkins, Iowa, in Benton County,” which is about 10 miles west of Cedar Rapids. These wind speeds equate to what can be found in a strong Category 3 to a Category 4 hurricane.
The derecho raced eastward across the Midwest, causing destruction along its path on Monday, Aug. 10, 2020. (NWS Chicago)
Unlike a hurricane, however, the derecho stretched across nearly 800 miles of the middle part of the U.S., taking out crops along with it.
“Having a hurricane in Iowa was kind of one of those things you wouldn’t think would happen," Cody Halling, a farmer in Perry, Iowa, told AccuWeather National Reporter Bill Wadell, adding, "2020... You don’t know what’s coming next.”
Corn was flattened by intense winds and debris during Monday's derecho. (Twitter/@ksw442)
Travis Osen Foss recounted to AccuWeather National Reporter Emmy Victor how he and his family had ridden out the storm in their home. As the rain worked through the roof, seeping into the house, Foss was more concerned about how the large tree in their backyard would hold up against the howling winds.
"I was cognizant of that tree, and I didn't know if it fell down how much of the house it would crunch and what it would do," Foss said. "We don't have a basement in our house, so we sat right here in the living room and listened to the storm come through."
Two months later, come October, families whose homes were destroyed by the derecho were still rebuilding or seeking out a new home. In mid-October, 20 out of the original 50 families who had sought shelter at the Catherine McAuley Center, a transitional housing program in the city, were still staying at the center as they looked for a new home to move into.
The Foss family had moved in with relatives who live an hour and a half away from their storm-damaged home as they wait on repairs to be made. As of late December, Foss told Victor that he believes they will be able to move back into their home sometime in February.
By mid-September, tendrils of smoke stretched out from the western U.S. toward the Atlantic, lingering above the hurricanes Paulette and Sally.
While the two weather events -- the Western wildfires and the Atlantic hurricane season -- didn't have any interaction with each other besides the view they created in an extraordinary satellite image, the reach of the smoke was still stunning.
Satellite imagery of wildfire smoke from the western U.S. that has traveled to the eastern part of the country. Meanwhile, a weakened Hurricane Sally churned in the Gulf on Sept. 15, 2020, as Paulette strengthened out in the Atlantic. (CIRA/RAMMBA/GOES-East / Adam Del Rosso)
The wildfires in the western portion of the U.S. have scorched more than 10.3 million acres this year since Jan. 20, 2020, according to the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC). The 2019 Western wildfire season destroyed 4.5 million acres, and the 10-year average year-to-date number of acres burned from 2010 to 2019 is 6.7 million acres.
California had its largest wildfire in state history, the August Complex, which burned at least 1 million acres, destroyed 935 structures and killed at least one person. The SCU Lightning complex, the Creek Fire and the LNU Lightning Complex, three other large wildfires that caused concern throughout the state, ranked as the third, fourth and fifth largest wildfires of the state's history.
California wasn't the only state in which wildfires ran rampant, however. Fires spawned from Southern California to Oregon to Colorado, prompting thousands to evacuate over the course of the season and spurring air quality concerns.
Smoke from fire in Oregon darkened the skies, turning them from blue to a hazy orange or even a thick crimson color. The smoke traveled across the nation, causing hazy skies as far as New York.
The Corona family returned to the site of their destroyed home after the Almeda Fire after photographer Christopher Briscoe asked to take some photos of them at the site. (Jocksana Corona/Christopher Briscoe)
Jocksana Corona is one of the many people to have lost a home to this year's fire season. Warned by an emergency alert from her university, she and her daughter ran from door to door at their neighborhood at Talent Mobile Estates to warn their neighbors of the billowing smoke from the approaching Almeda Fire.
After the flames raced through their neighborhood, only about 10 homes were left standing, Corona told AccuWeather. Her home wasn't one of them.
Jocksana Corona holds up a "Hope" sign in front of what remains of her home, which was destroyed in the Almeda Fire. She and her family have since found a new home to move into. (Jocksana Corona/Christopher Briscoe)
(Jocksana Corona/Christopher Briscoe)
The Almeda Fire was by no means the largest of the wildfires to have flared up in Oregon at around 3,000 acres, but it was perhaps one of the most devastating as it affected primarily affordable housing in an area that was already experiencing a housing crisis.
For months, the Corona family stayed at a Girl Scout center that had offered them a space to shelter until they were able to find a new home. From after the fire struck in September up until the end of November, the Corona family searched for a new home until finally securing a place by mid-December. The family was able to move in by Christmas and decorate their tree with family ornaments that had been unscathed by the fire.
Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
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News / Weather News
Hindsight 2020: The good, the bad and the ugly from this year's weather
By Adriana Navarro, AccuWeather staff writer
Updated Jan 3, 2021 7:09 PM EDT
As 2020 comes to a close, AccuWeather takes a look back at some of the biggest weather stories of the year.
The year 2020 was definitely a doozy, even in the field of weather coverage as events seemed to constantly step out of bounds -- tornadoes running rampant seemingly everywhere but in the heart of Tornado Alley, western wildfires reaching into Washington state while the smoke drifted above Atlantic hurricanes and even an "inland hurricane" that charged through the central Plains.
However, as chaotic and uncertain as this year was, there were breaks in the storms and silver linings that followed -- areas often heavily targeted by tropical storms dodged multiple threats this year, some residents in Southern California experienced their first snowfall, and there were some sights that graced the night sky this year that hadn't been seen for centuries.
With all that said, here's a list of some of the top weather events that showed the good, the bad and the ugly of 2020's exasperating character.
The Easter severe weather outbreak
On Easter morning, 20 seconds were all that stood between Andrew Phillips and the wrath of a tornado spawned from an outbreak of severe weather over the holiday weekend that claimed the lives of at least 34 people across six states. In those 20 seconds, he ducked into a safe room with his family, shielding them with his body. The cinderblock room had been one of the reasons they had bought the home, which they had lived in for only a few weeks prior to the storm, Phillips told The Associated Press.
The tornado left next to nothing standing in its wake -- destroying the family's home, the building of their meat processing business and their car. However, the safe room withstood the winds, and the family emerged unharmed.
Amber Phillips stands outside the family's safe room, located on their property in Moss, Miss., following a tornado, Monday, April 13, 2020. While the rest of their home was obliterated in a matter of seconds Sunday afternoon, Andrew Phillips, his wife Amber and their kids, ages 2 and 6 months, survived the storm without a scratch inside the small safe room, which doubles as a closet. (Andrew Phillips via AP)
Phillips' home in Moss, Mississippi, was one of the dozens struck by the outbreak of violent weather that swept across the southern United States into the Northeast from April 12-13, 2020. A total of 140 tornadoes were confirmed from the outbreak, claiming 34 lives. The deaths attributed to the outbreak pushed 2020 ahead as the deadliest year for tornadoes since 2011, during which a total of 551 fatalities were blamed on tornadoes -- the most in the 62-year period of record keeping. The 2020 tornado season recorded a total of 78 fatalities.
"Of the 78 fatalities for 2020, 36 were confirmed to have occurred in mobile or manufactured homes, once again showing the increased risk for those who live in such dwellings," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Randy Adkins said.
The tornadoes had not only spawned across 10 states from Louisiana to Maryland, but they also hit densely populated regions. Typically, tornado-prone areas in the southern Plains are where communities tend to be spread farther apart, providing a better chance for tornadoes to pass through open fields and plains without causing as much damage. In addition, many of the injuries and fatalities had occurred with the stronger tornadoes during the nighttime, AccuWeather Meteorologist Jake Sodja had said at the time.
Three of the tornadoes were rated at EF4 strength, and all but one of which had torn through Mississippi. The fourth had torn through Hampton, South Carolina. Georgia ranked as the state with the most tornadoes spawned from the storm at 30.
The combined total length of the tornado paths amounted to nearly 938.68 miles, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).
Did your city's NWS office report more tornadoes than those in the heart of Tornado Alley in 2020?
Based on preliminary data released at the beginning of December, about 11 National Weather Service offices recorded more tornadoes in their area than the office in Wichita, Kanas -- which lies directly in the heart of Tornado Alley.
At the top of the list sits the Philadelphia office in Mount Holly, New Jersey, which recorded 23 more tornadoes that the Wichita office this year. Some other oddballs include Albany, New York, which reported 15 more tornadoes, Portland, Oregon, which had four more tornadoes, and Portland, Maine, which also recorded four more tornadoes.
Some of these tornadoes in the Northeast can be attributed to the remnants of hurricanes that overstayed their welcome, such as Category 1 Hurricane Isaias' run up the Eastern Seaboard. At least three dozen tornadoes were confirmed in its aftermath.
One of the tornadoes spawned by the storm struck as far north as Dover, Delaware, where Max Ollendorff and his daughter felt their hotel room shutter as the twister churned through the parking lot.
"[A] Tornado touched down behind our hotel in Dover, Delaware. Trees shredded. Several cars under branches. I felt the whole building shudder," Ollendorff posted on the social media outlet.
A small business owner who works at trade show exhibits and corporate events, Ollendorff had traveled from Southern California to Dover with his daughter for a soccer camp, but a portion of the events were canceled because of the storm.
"I could hear a bit of a rumble," Ollendorff told AccuWeather over a Zoom interview. "And what I would describe as a crackling and then I came out to the front of the room where my daughter was still sleeping, and yeah," he marveled, "it was pretty radical to see a swath of these trees behind me cut down."
AccuWeather lead hurricane expert's thoughts on the 2020 Atlantic Basin hurricane season
"Dread" was the one-word response AccuWeather's Lead Hurricane Expert Dan Kottlowski gave when asked about his reaction to the company's team of tropical weather forecasters concluding that the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season would be a long one.
That prediction began coming true early, the season had already powered three named storms by the first of June, the official start of the Atlantic basin hurricane season.
"It was almost like an omen," Kottlowski said. "Historically, when you have three storms named by June 1, you're going to have a busy season. It just always seems that way."
The season would later break 2005's record for the most named storms, producing up to 30 and delving into the Greek alphabet for the second time in recorded history by mid-September.
"I think the sheer number of storms was just really, very, very, very tough on all forecasters," Kottlwoski said. "Especially during the latter half of the season like as we got into late September and October."
As the season pushed onward, the storms didn't let up until the end of October, amounting to a long, drawn-out marathon of a season.
"I'd say it was one of the most challenging, if not the most challenging, season we had just because of the number of storms," Kottlowski said. By the end of the season, the U.S. had been hit by these tropical storms and hurricanes 12 times, 13 if you count Arthur, which didn't make landfall but still caused significant damage along the coast of North Carolina.
2020 etched itself into the record books as the season with the most named systems, with its 30 named storms beating out the 27 named storms in 2005. Nearly half of those 30 storms became hurricanes, and six of those became major hurricanes -- Category 3 or stronger.
But while 2020 had a rapid-fire pacing of tropical systems, Kottlowski pointed out that the storms were, overall, weaker than the cyclones the 2005 season had produced.
Meteorologists measure the power of hurricanes through the ACE Index, or the accumulated cyclone energy index, which accounts for the maximum sustained wind speed and duration of these systems while they are at tropical storm intensity or higher. In turn, this means that the higher the wind speed and the longer-lived the storm, the higher it will rate on the index. Overall, the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season had an ACE rating of 179.8, while the 2005 season had a rating of 250.
A silver lining from the season, however, was that for as many storms as there were, certain areas that were more prone to tropical systems such as the Florida Peninsula had "dodged a bullet," as Kottlowski put it.
"This [season], by far, will be on people's minds for a long time."
Hurricane Laura, the 'opportunistic storm'
Todd Miller and his family had had their fair share of storms -- Rita, Humberto, Ike, even flooding from Harvey -- when they lived in Deweyville, Texas. Hoping to evade any future storms, they packed up their bags and moved to Vinton, Louisiana, a town in southwestern Louisiana, about 20 miles west of Lake Charles. Others had told him that the area had recovered "in no time" after intense storms like Rita and Ike.
Then came Hurricane Laura.
This GOES-16 GeoColor satellite image taken Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2020, at 2:40 p.m. EDT., and provided by NOAA, shows Hurricane Laura over the Gulf of Mexico. Hurricane Laura strengthened Wednesday into “an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane," The National Hurricane Center said. (NOAA via AP)
"I'd have to say Laura was the most challenging storm," Kottlowski said, but he clarified the forecasting challenges his team faced were not from the standpoint of its strength, but from its track. "Typically, a storm that takes the track that Laura took, usually those storms don't survive very well."
For instance, Laura's track took it over Hispaniola, but just south of the higher terrain that could have killed the storm in the Caribbean.
"I kept telling people it was an opportunistic storm," Kottlowski said. "And then, when it emerged off the northwestern coast of Cuba, it just exploded."
A satellite loop showing Laura progress from a tropical storm over the Caribbean to a Category 4 hurricane that made landfall on the U.S. Gulf Coast. (AccuWeather)
The storm intensified by 70% in power within 24 hours by Aug. 26 to become a Category 3 hurricane, the first major hurricane of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season. And it wasn't finished growing.
By the afternoon of Aug. 26, the NOAA Hurricane Hunters found Laura had become an "extremely dangerous" Category 4 hurricane. Less than 24 hours later, Laura slammed into Cameron, Louisiana, with winds just 7 mph shy of a Category 5 hurricane.
Hurricane Laura approaching the Gulf Coast on Wednesday evening. (NOAA/GOES-East)
Still, damage from the storm was nothing to take lightly. Laura made landfall in southwestern Louisiana, at 1 a.m. CDT on Aug. 27 with sustained winds of 150 mph, becoming the strongest hurricane to strike southwestern Louisiana since records began in 1851 and the strongest hurricane on record to make landfall in the state in over 150 years.
Miller told AccuWeather National Reporter Bill Wadell that he and his family "had to hunker down." They flipped a couch and had their kids crawl into what Miller described as the "little cubby hole" under the piece of furniture. They then took a mattress, setting it on top of the opening to protect them from the wrath of the hurricane.
"[We] Just rode it out," Miller said. "Just kept watching the ceiling come apart. The bigger the hole got, the more of the storm we could see."
A little more than 30 miles southeast of Vinton, storm surge in Rutherford Beach, Louisiana, reached up to a whopping 17.2 feet above ground level, tearing into homes held aloft on stilts. To put that height into perspective, 17.2 feet is almost as tall as an adult giraffe, or nearly twice the official height of a basketball rim.
A damaged home is shown Friday, Aug. 28, 2020, in Hackberry, La., after Hurricane Laura move through the area Thursday. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
At least 32 fatalities were recorded from the storm in Louisiana and Texas alone, the majority of which followed the wake of the hurricane due to treacherous conditions or carbon monoxide poisoning from generators used in buildings without electricity. Dozens more lives were lost in the Caribbean, primarily in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, from Laura.
The impact that Laura wrought would set the stage for following storms, such as Tropical Storm Marco and Hurricane Delta, to exacerbate the damage in the area.
Linda Smoot, who evacuated from Hurricane Laura in a pickup truck with eight others, reacts as they return to see their homes, in Lake Charles, La., in the aftermath of the hurricane, Sunday, Aug. 30, 2020. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
The inland hurricane that pummeled Iowa
Before Hurricane Laura could make landfall in late August, a different storm tore through the Central states with winds comparable to hurricane strength.
On Aug. 10, a derecho, a swift-moving complex of thunderstorms, caused extensive wind damage over hundreds of miles through Iowa and northern Illinois.
“Maximum estimated winds were around 140 mph, which caused extensive damage to an apartment complex in southwest Cedar Rapids, Iowa,” the National Weather Service said. “The maximum measured unofficial wind gust was 126 mph at Atkins, Iowa, in Benton County,” which is about 10 miles west of Cedar Rapids. These wind speeds equate to what can be found in a strong Category 3 to a Category 4 hurricane.
The derecho raced eastward across the Midwest, causing destruction along its path on Monday, Aug. 10, 2020. (NWS Chicago)
Unlike a hurricane, however, the derecho stretched across nearly 800 miles of the middle part of the U.S., taking out crops along with it.
“Having a hurricane in Iowa was kind of one of those things you wouldn’t think would happen," Cody Halling, a farmer in Perry, Iowa, told AccuWeather National Reporter Bill Wadell, adding, "2020... You don’t know what’s coming next.”
Corn was flattened by intense winds and debris during Monday's derecho. (Twitter/@ksw442)
Travis Osen Foss recounted to AccuWeather National Reporter Emmy Victor how he and his family had ridden out the storm in their home. As the rain worked through the roof, seeping into the house, Foss was more concerned about how the large tree in their backyard would hold up against the howling winds.
"I was cognizant of that tree, and I didn't know if it fell down how much of the house it would crunch and what it would do," Foss said. "We don't have a basement in our house, so we sat right here in the living room and listened to the storm come through."
Two months later, come October, families whose homes were destroyed by the derecho were still rebuilding or seeking out a new home. In mid-October, 20 out of the original 50 families who had sought shelter at the Catherine McAuley Center, a transitional housing program in the city, were still staying at the center as they looked for a new home to move into.
The Foss family had moved in with relatives who live an hour and a half away from their storm-damaged home as they wait on repairs to be made. As of late December, Foss told Victor that he believes they will be able to move back into their home sometime in February.
Far-reaching Western wildfires
By mid-September, tendrils of smoke stretched out from the western U.S. toward the Atlantic, lingering above the hurricanes Paulette and Sally.
While the two weather events -- the Western wildfires and the Atlantic hurricane season -- didn't have any interaction with each other besides the view they created in an extraordinary satellite image, the reach of the smoke was still stunning.
Satellite imagery of wildfire smoke from the western U.S. that has traveled to the eastern part of the country. Meanwhile, a weakened Hurricane Sally churned in the Gulf on Sept. 15, 2020, as Paulette strengthened out in the Atlantic. (CIRA/RAMMBA/GOES-East / Adam Del Rosso)
The wildfires in the western portion of the U.S. have scorched more than 10.3 million acres this year since Jan. 20, 2020, according to the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC). The 2019 Western wildfire season destroyed 4.5 million acres, and the 10-year average year-to-date number of acres burned from 2010 to 2019 is 6.7 million acres.
California had its largest wildfire in state history, the August Complex, which burned at least 1 million acres, destroyed 935 structures and killed at least one person. The SCU Lightning complex, the Creek Fire and the LNU Lightning Complex, three other large wildfires that caused concern throughout the state, ranked as the third, fourth and fifth largest wildfires of the state's history.
California wasn't the only state in which wildfires ran rampant, however. Fires spawned from Southern California to Oregon to Colorado, prompting thousands to evacuate over the course of the season and spurring air quality concerns.
Smoke from fire in Oregon darkened the skies, turning them from blue to a hazy orange or even a thick crimson color. The smoke traveled across the nation, causing hazy skies as far as New York.
The Corona family returned to the site of their destroyed home after the Almeda Fire after photographer Christopher Briscoe asked to take some photos of them at the site. (Jocksana Corona/Christopher Briscoe)
Jocksana Corona is one of the many people to have lost a home to this year's fire season. Warned by an emergency alert from her university, she and her daughter ran from door to door at their neighborhood at Talent Mobile Estates to warn their neighbors of the billowing smoke from the approaching Almeda Fire.
After the flames raced through their neighborhood, only about 10 homes were left standing, Corona told AccuWeather. Her home wasn't one of them.
Jocksana Corona holds up a "Hope" sign in front of what remains of her home, which was destroyed in the Almeda Fire. She and her family have since found a new home to move into. (Jocksana Corona/Christopher Briscoe)
The Almeda Fire was by no means the largest of the wildfires to have flared up in Oregon at around 3,000 acres, but it was perhaps one of the most devastating as it affected primarily affordable housing in an area that was already experiencing a housing crisis.
For months, the Corona family stayed at a Girl Scout center that had offered them a space to shelter until they were able to find a new home. From after the fire struck in September up until the end of November, the Corona family searched for a new home until finally securing a place by mid-December. The family was able to move in by Christmas and decorate their tree with family ornaments that had been unscathed by the fire.
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