Remembering Hurricane Katrina

DISCUSSION: It is hard to believe that it has been a little over 13 years since a good portion of the Gulf Coast of the United States experienced prolific and historic impacts from the full force of Hurricane Katrina.  Hurricane Katrina left an unforgettable set of horrific memories for many millions of people who lied in the path of that historic tropical cyclone back in August of 2005. Hurricane Katrina began in a very modest fashion as a weak hurricane in Florida by around 25 August 2005 and was originally expected to re-curve into parts of northeast Florida. However, the course of this historic tropical cyclone was forced to change as a result of an area of high-pressure which built in across parts of the Mid-Atlantic United States between 25 and 27 August which forced Hurricane Katrina to take a track further west across the central Gulf of Mexico.

As Hurricane Katrina continued moving across the central Gulf of Mexico, it gained substantial strength and size which made it a large and incredibly dangerous hurricane which would go on to make a historic and terrifying track into Louisiana which will never be forgotten.  Between a record-breaking storm surge, powerful onshore winds, and intense as well as persistent tropical rainfall, Hurricane Katrina went on to compromise the strength of the levee system guarding the city of New Orleans to the point that they gave way to the power of the rushing ocean water into Lake Pontchartrain in southern Louisiana. As a result, New Orleans and surrounding area experienced an unprecedented flooding event unlike anything the city had ever experienced before in recorded history.  Furthermore, as shown above in the text caption (courtesy of Meteorologist Brian McNoldy), Hurricane Katrina still remains to be the costliest hurricane in recorded U.S. history which is likely a recorded that will not be broken for quite a long time considering the extent of Katrina’s impacts.

To learn more about other past historic weather events from around the world, be sure to click here!

© 2018 Meteorologist Jordan Rabinowitz