Which parts of the US are hurricane targets?
Most Americans think that the Atlantic Ocean is a hotbed of hurricane activity. The Pacific has almost four occasions the number of hurricanes as the Atlantic, but most remain out to sea, never producing landfall. So for the U.S., the Eastern Seaboard, including the Gulf of Mexico, are where most hurricanes seem to happen.
The North Atlantic has about 10 intense tropical storms with hurricane possible per year. About half of the storms turn into hurricanes and 2 of those will probably be labeled “intense.” The North Atlantic hurricane season begins on June 1st and ends on November 30th and most hurricanes will form between August 15th and October 15 using the “peak” season getting on September tenth.
Most scientists see a pattern in the way hurricanes occur over time. Hurricanes in the Atlantic seem to oscillate on a 50-70 year cycle that is referred to as the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation. This time series shows a peak and valley graph of hurricane occurrences over time, starting at the mean (average) and going down or up each year. We are at present within the middle of a peak series, which began in 1995. It will finish in about 2020.
Outside of large, geographic terms like “Mid-Atlantic” and “Gulf Coast,” it is tough to say where a hurricane will hit exactly. Many hurricanes make landfall but do little damage, but hurricanes have been doing much more damage (measured in dollar figures) for the past few decades because populations in coastal regions have become much more densely packed.
Because of its position, Florida State takes much more hurricane and tropical storm landings than any other location in the U.S.. Anyone living in the state of Florida really will want hurricane shutters miami. Comparing total landmass of coasts, Florida has additional coastline than any other state (it is bordered on 3 sides). Even storms that skip Florida and go into the Gulf of Mexico will often cause harm anyway, just by passing by.
The states that get hit the hardest are often those directly north of Florida, however. The states directly west of Florida are often sheltered by Florida’s peninsula, so hurricanes entering the Gulf Coast most often hit states further in such as Louisiana and Texas.
The intensity of a hurricane is measured by the Saffir-Simpson Scale for Atlantic Hurricanes (usually referred to as “Saffir-Simpson”). On the scale, category 1 hurricanes have a wind speed of 74-95 mph and a prospective damage scale of one, with most harm happening to shrubbery, small trees, mobile homes, etc.
From the category 1, the scale goes up to 5 with a level 5 storm being catastrophic, with winds over 155 miles per hour. Nearly all storms that make landfall within the Atlantic are category 1-3 storms with most becoming in the 2 or 3 categories.