THE DECADE IN WEATHER

(Above) Hurricane Katrina leaves the city of New Orleans under water.

While 2009 was a quiet year in the Atlantic Basin, the last ten years has seen hurricanes become the dominate story of the decade. Nine of the top ten costliest natural disasters since the turn of the century have been hurricane related. Join TSR as we take a year-by-year look at the top weather stories over the last decade.

2000: On March 28th, a large andviolent tornado moved through downtown Ft. Worth, TX. The tornado damaged many of the high-rise buildings in the city and was rated an F3 on the Fujita Scale. Despite moving through such a populated area, the tornado only claimed the lives of two people. The tornado did an estimated $500 million in damage.

 

 

  

 

2001: Tropical Storm Allison devastated Southern Texas during the first week of June. The unusual storm hovered over the Houston area for days dropping rainfall amounts of nearly 40 inches. Downtown businesses were heavily damaged and over 40,000 houses were flooded. The storm also worked its way up the Eastern Seaboard causing more death and destruction. Allison took 41 lives and cost an estimated $5.5 billion in damage.

 

 

 

2002: Tornado reports were non-existent during the first part of the year as only 11 tornadoes were reported through mid-March. The year ended with a bang however, as the 21st century’s first major tornado outbreak struck on Veteran’s Day in Mid- November. The second largest November tornado outbreak spawned 83 tornadoes over three days in 17 states from Ohio to Alabama. The outbreak claimed 36 lives and caused millions of dollars in damage.

 

 

  

2003: A series of tornado outbreaks tore through the Central U.S. during the first half of May. It became the largest sequence of tornado outbreaks in recorded history. Over 400 tornadoes touched down in a seven day period shattering the previous record of 171 tornadoes in 1995. On May 4th tornadoes devastated the towns of Girard and Kansas City, KS as well as Pierce City, MO. Tornadoes struck the Oklahoma City metro area on both May 8th and May 9th. The extended outbreak killed 48 people and cost the U.S. over $900 million in damage.

 

 

 

2004: Five named storms incredibly made landfall in Florida during the Atlantic Hurricane season. Four out of the five storms were hurricanes. Tropical Storm Bonnie and Hurricane Charley both pounded Florida in a 24-hour period in early August. On September 5th, Hurricane Frances struck the state as a category 2 storm. Next was Hurricane Ivan in mid-September. Finally, Hurricane Jeanne made landfall in Florida just two miles from where Frances struck just three weeks earlier.

 

 

  

2005: The 2005 Atlantic Hurricane Season was the most active in recorded history with28 named storms. The number one weather story of the decade by far revolves around Hurricane Katrina. New Orleans resident’s worst fears were realized as this massive storm slammed into the Gulf Coast. Up and down the coast total devastation was witnessed. In New Orleans, the city’s complicated levee system failed causing the city to fill withflood waters. Tragically, nearly 2,000 people lost their lives to Katrina. It was also the costliest disaster in American history with an estimated $81 billion in damage.

 

  

2006: Perhaps the quietest year of the decade, 2006 saw less tornadoes and hurricanes than average. The largest outbreak of tornadoes occurred on April 2nd from Illinois to Tennessee. Over 66 tornadoes were reported causing $1 billion in damage and claiming 29 lives.

 

 

 

 

2007: A large tornado outbreak occurred in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas on May 4-6. At least 120 tornadoes were confirmed during the 48-hour period. One of the most incredible supercells in history spawned multiple large and violent tornadoes, including an EF5 over one-mile-wide that destroyed the small community of Greensburg, KS. Amazingly, only killed 13 people lost their lives even though the voilent tornadoes took place at night. A ”Tornado Emergency” was issued by NWS meteorologist Mike Umcheid just before Greensburg was hit saving countless lives.

 

 

 

2008: The Super Tuesday tornado outbreak took place in early february and was named so as it occurred during the largest event during the presidential primaries. 87 tornadoes tore through the Southeastern U.S.. A major flood saturated the Midwest in June and July. The historical event cost an estimated $6 billion and is the only natural disaster other than hurricanes to grace the top 10 costliest of the decade. The hardest hit state was Iowa. The Mississippi River swelled to near record levels as residents were evacuated in Cedar Rapids. Mandatory evacuations were ordered for the downtown area.

 

 

2009:The month of May saw an historically quiet peak to the severe weather season. For the first time ever, the National Weather Service went an entire week in May without issuing one severe weather watch or warning. This was a painful reality for the world’s most renowned tornado scientists as they launched Vortex 2, the largest tornado research project in history. The project’s luck would change in Wyoming on June 5th as Vortex 2 documented the complete life cycle of a  long-lived tornado. The Altlantic Hurricane season also saw historically low levels of development as only nine named storms formed and no hurricanes made landfall in the U.S..