Hurricane in Florida, October 24, 2005

Name: Hurricane in Florida, October 24, 2005
Start: 2005-10-24T05:00
End: 2005-10-24T11:00
Location: Florida

October 24, 2005 · NWS TBW · 1 event in 1 county or zone

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $101 million
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS TBW wrote it up.

Hurricane Wilma made landfall near Cape Romano in Collier County around daybreak on October 24th as a Category 3 hurricane with a 60 mile wide eye wall. Wilma then raced across far southern Florida in five hours and exited into the Atlantic just north of Palm Beach as a Category 2 hurricane. Wilma produced widespread heavy rains of 4 to 8 inches across the area but unseasonably dry conditions prior to Wilma limited flooding. Storm surge was not a problem in the Fort Myers area as winds were offshore. In Lee County...The north part of Hurricane Wilma's eye wall passed along the Lee/Collier county border. Southern Lee County received widespread minor to isolated moderate damage. A peak wind gust of 87 MPH was reported at the C-MAN station at Big Carlos Pass at 654 AM EDT. The Regional Southwest airport recorded a peak wind from the north of 79 MPH at 828 AM EDT and Page Field recorded a peak wind of 76 MPH at 812 AM EDT. An estimated 17,000 claims were made to the insurance industry and and $101 million in insured and uninsured damage was reported to numerous mobile homes, aluminum-sided structures, pool cages, shingles, and thousands of fallen trees, some onto residences and vehicles. Farther north, problems were much less notable with minor damage to poorly constructed structures and mobile homes, and scattered tree, limb, and power line damage. The debris totaled about 200,000 cubic yards, or about 1/10 of the debris left by Hurricane Charley in 2004. Power was out to about 208,000 customers at the peak of the storm.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Tampa Bay, FL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Oct 24, 1:00 AM EST, 4 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Oct 24, 1:00 AM EST, 4 hours before

WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL
200 AM EDT MON OCT 24 2005

...MAJOR HURRICANE WILMA TO MAKE LANDFALL IN EXTREME SOUTHWEST
FLORIDA THIS MORNING...

.SHORT TERM (TODAY-WED)...EXPECT HURRICANE CONDITIONS SHORTLY OVER SW
FL AND TS CONDITIONS OVER MUCH OF THE CENTRAL FL PENINSULA. TORNADO
POTENTIAL CONTINUES WITH LAND FALLING HURRICANE TOR WATCH CONTINUES
UNTIL 15Z.

DIVING AND DEEPENING UPPER LOW SPINNING OVER THE MID MS RV VALLEY AS
SEEN IN WV SAT IMAGERY WHILE WILMA GETTING KICKED QUICKLY NEWARD. SFC
COLD FRONT RACING THRU THE N CENTRAL GULF ALONG STRONG VORT MAX WHILE
ANOTHER FRONTAL BOUNDARY IS DRAPED OVER THE N CENTRAL FL PENINSULA.
CONVECTION FROM WILMA...FRONTS...AND UPPER SUPPORT TO DRENCH THE AREA
THIS MORNING INTO EARLY AFTERNOON. WILMA AND FRONTS TO QUICKLY MOVE
EASTWARD WITH SIGNIFICANT DRYING AND COOLING POST FRONT ON NW FLOW
FROM SFC TO ALOFT LATER TODAY/TONIGHT.

ALL LATEST MOS SHOWING TEMPS 10+ DEGREES BELOW CLIMO THRU THE PERIOD.
WHICH WILL FEEL WINTERY AS TEMPS AND HUMIDITY HAVE BEEN ABOVE NORMAL
LAST FEW WEEKS/MONTHS.

.LONG TERM (WED NIGHT-SUN)...HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS IN AT THE SFC
THROUGH THE EXTENDED PERIOD WITH WEAK UPPER TROUGHING REMAINING IN
PLACE OVER THE STATE. THERE WILL BE AN ISOLATED CHANCE FOR RAIN FOR
FRI THROUGH SUN AS MOISTURE RETURNS TO THE AREA AND SOME UPPER
VORTICITY MOVES THROUGH THE W/SW FLOW. TEMPS TO BEGIN WELL BELOW
NORMAL AND THEN GRADUALLY MODERATE BACK TO NEAR NORMAL BY THE
WEEKEND.

&&

.MARINE...TROPICAL STORM AND HURRICANE CONDITIONS THIS MORNING.
STRONG HIGH PRESSURE TO BUILD OVER THE WATERS LATE TODAY WITH WINDS
SHIFTING N/NW WITH SEAS 15 TO 20FT SLOWLY SUBSIDING LATE TODAY AND
TONIGHT TO 6-8 FT LATER TUESDAY. HIGH PRESSURE TO WEAKEN AND SETTLE
INTO THE REGION MID TO LATE WEEK WITH WINDS AND SEAS CALMING DOWN.

&&

.AVIATION...WINDS AND RAIN WILL BE INCREASING THROUGH THE NIGHT AS
HURRICANE WILMA APPROACHES THE SW FL COAST...WITH LOWERING CEILINGS
AND VISIBILITIES IN THE RAIN. THE PEAK FOR WINDS AND RAIN SHOULD BE
IN THE MORNING HOURS (ROUGHLY 10-15Z) AS WILMA MAKES LANDFALL AND
BEGINS TO PUSH INLAND. CONDITIONS SHOULD RAPIDLY IMPROVE THROUGH THE
AFTERNOON AND EVENING AS WILMA CONTINUES NE ACROSS THE STATE AND
EVENTUALLY RE-EMERGES IN THE ATLANTIC AND A COLD AND DRY AIRMASS
MOVES INTO THE AREA.

&&

.FIRE WEATHER...TROPICAL STORM AND HURRICANE CONDITIONS EARLY TODAY.
STRONG WINDS AT ALL LEVELS FOR HIGH DISPERSION VALUES TODAY/TUE.
COLDER AND DRIER CONDITIONS TONIGHT-MID WEEK. POSSIBLE LOW RH OVER
INTERIOR AREAS TUE/WED.

&&

.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
TPA 74 52 68 51 /  + 00 00 00
FMY 78 54 72 52 /  + 00 00 00
GIF 74 49 68 49 /  + 00 00 00
SRQ 75 53 69 52 /  + 00 00 00
BKV 73 41 67 40 / 90 00 00 00

&&

.TBW WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
 HURRICANE WARNING IN EFFECT FROM LONGBOAT KEY SOUTH INCLUDING THE
  SHORELINES OF SARASOTA...CHARLOTTE...LEE...AND DESOTO.
 TROPICAL STORM WARNING IN EFFECT FROM LONGBOAT KEY NORTH
  INCLUDING THE SHORELINES OF MANATEE...PINELLAS...HILLSBOROUGH
  PASCO...HERNANDO...CITRUS...AND LEVY COUNTIES.
 INLAND HURRICANE WARNING IN EFFECT FOR NON COASTAL AND NON TIDAL
  SARASOTA...CHARLOTTE...LEE...  HARDEE... HIGHLANDS AND DESOTO
  COUNTIES.
 INLAND TROPICAL STORM WARNING IN EFFECT FOR NON COASTAL AND NON
  TIDAL MANATEE...HILLSBOROUGH...PASCO...HERNANDO...CITRUS...
  SUMTER...POLK...AND LEVY COUNTIES.
 TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 837 IN EFFECT UNTIL 11 AM MONDAY MORNING FOR
  ALL COUNTIES EXCEPT LEVY.
 FLASH FLOOD WATCH IN EFFECT FOR CHARLOTTE AND LEE COUNTIES.

&&

RD/JC

Hazardous weather outlook, Oct 24, 2:43 AM EST, 2 hours 17 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL
343 AM EDT MON OCT 24 2005

FLZ039-042-043-048>052-055>057-060>062-065-250745-
LEVY-CITRUS-SUMTER-HERNANDO-PASCO-PINELLAS-HILLSBOROUGH-POLK-
MANATEE-HARDEE-HIGHLANDS-SARASOTA-DE SOTO-CHARLOTTE-LEE-
343 AM EDT MON OCT 24 2005

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHWEST
FLORIDA AND WEST CENTRAL FLORIDA.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT
POWERFUL HURRICANE WILMA WILL QUICKLY MOVE OVER THE SOUTH FLORIDA
PENINSULA THIS MORNING. HURRICANE CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED OVER
LAND AND SEAS FROM SARASOTA COUNTY SOUTHWARD AND TROPICAL STORM
CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED FROM MANATEE COUNTY NORTHWARD THIS MORNING.
DAMAGING WINDS...TORRENTIAL HEAVY RAINS AND THE POTENTIAL FOR
ISOLATED TORNADOES WILL ACCOMPANY THESE CONDITIONS. FOR MORE
DETAILED INFORMATION AS TO THE WINDS...RAINFALL... TORNADIC AND
MARINE THREATS FROM WILMA REFER TO OUR HURRICANE LOCAL STATEMENTS.

HURRICANE WILMA IS GENERATING LARGE ROUGH SEAS OVER THE EASTERN GULF
OF MEXICO. LARGE BREAKING WAVES WILL MAKE AREA BEACHES DANGEROUS TODAY.
THE PUBLIC SHOULD REMAIN INDOORS THIS MORNING UNTIL CONDITIONS IMPROVE.
MARINERS SHOULD REMAIN IN PORT UNTIL CONDITIONS IMPROVE.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY

HIGH PRESSURE WILL BRING MUCH COOLER AND DRIER CONDITIONS TO THE AREA
THE REST OF THE WEEK.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED THIS MORNING.

&&

FOR ADDITIONAL WEATHER INFORMATION...CHECK OUR WEB SITE AT
HTTP://WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/TBW (LOWER CASE)

RD

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Oct 24, 4:58 AM EST, 2 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL
558 AM EDT MON OCT 24 2005

FLZ065-241045-
LEE-
558 AM EDT MON OCT 24 2005

...OUTER EYEWALL WIND GUSTS UP TO 80 MPH APPROACHING THE SOUTHWEST
LEE COUNTY COAST...

THE LARGE EYE OF HURRICANE WILMA HAS MOVED ONSHORE IN COLLIER COUNTY
SOUTH OF NAPLES BETWEEN 530 AND 545 AM THIS MORNING.  A FEEDER BAND
WILL MOVE THROUGH BONITA BEACH AND BONITA SPRINGS...REACHING SANIBEL
AND PERHAPS CAPTIVA BEFORE 630 AM.

THIS IS A DANGEROUS SITUATION  SUBSTANTIAL DAMAGE TO MOBILE HOMES
IS LIKELY AS THIS FEEDER BAND MOVES THROUGH...AND LARGE LIMBS AND
WIRES ARE LIKELY TO FALL CAUSING ADDITIONAL DAMAGE AND POWER
OUTAGES.

ALL RESIDENTS ARE URGED TO REMAIN INDOORS...AWAY FROM
WINDOWS...THROUGH AT LEAST 630 AM

BSG

Event by event

1 hurricane (typhoon). Local standard time, as filed.

Hurricane (Typhoon), Lee

When: October 24, 5:00 AM EST to 11:00 AM EST
Where: Lee forecast zone
Property damage: $101 million
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER

What these are

Hurricane (Typhoon): A tropical cyclone with sustained winds of 64 knots (74 mph) or more, filed per forecast zone for its wind, and with separate events for its flooding, surge and tornadoes.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Florida in 2005 Every state in 2005 This day in weather history Warnings in Florida, October 2005 The 2005 hurricane season

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5477058.