A single major hurricane striking Florida’s Gulf Coast, McNoldy said, would break all three standing droughts simultaneously. A major hurricane hasn’t hit the U.S. Gulf or East Coast in more than a decade. Twenty-seven major hurricanes have occurred in the Atlantic Ocean basin since the last one, Wilma, struck Florida in 2005. A major hurricane is one containing maximum sustained winds of at least 111 mph and classified as Category 3 or higher on the 1-5 Saffir-Simpson wind scale. [What’s driving our major hurricane landfall drought?

Source: Washington Post August 04, 2016 17:56 UTC