WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — It was exactly 20 years ago Tuesday that Hurricane Charley made landfall on the southwest coast of Florida.
Charley, a monstrous Category 4 storm, led the charge on a very active and destructive hurricane season.
WPTV First Alert Weather chief meteorologist Steve Weagle describes Charley as "the start of the chaos."
TRACKING THE TROPICS: Hurricane Center | Hurricane Guide
Charley made landfall near the island of Cayo Costa, just west of Fort Myers, at approximately 3:45 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 13, 2004. The system had maximum sustained wind speeds of 150 mph.
This was the strongest hurricane to hit Florida since the infamous Hurricane Andrew in 1992.
The tropical system did what we have seen most of our systems do today: rapidly strengthen before making landfall. We encountered this with Hurricane Debby last week as it rapidly strengthened to a hurricane before making landfall in the Big Bend of Florida.
Charley's rainfall totals were near 5 inches for most locations on the southwest coast of Florida.
The storm proceeded to travel north-northeast and moved through central Florida, impacting eastern Orlando with wind gusts recorded up to 106 mph at Orlando International Airport.
Hurricane Charley caused so much damage due to its strength, but itss last-minute turn east caught people off guard and not hurricane ready. It was originally forecasted to make landfall closer to Tampa, but made landfall more than 100 miles south of the projection.
It continued to move northward as a tropical storm through North Carolina, before moving east into the Atlantic Ocean, where it eventually dissipated.
Charley left 35 people dead from the Caribbean through the United States, including 29 in Florida.
