Hurricane Idalia runback isn't likely, but Florida's been hit by looping storms before

Brandon Girod, Pensacola News Journal
·3 min read
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Hurricane Idalia officially made landfall Wednesday around 7:45 a.m. ET near Keaton Beach, Florida, as a Category 3 storm with sustained winds at 125 mph, bringing dangerous storm surges and rainfall to an area not seen in modern records.

Idalia remained a strong Category 2 hurricane more than an hour after making landfall, reaching top winds of 110 mph, and is expected to remain a hurricane as it makes its way across Florida and Georgia before heading toward the Carolinas as a tropical storm.

Some spaghetti models and the National Weather Service (NWS) Miami Tuesday indicated that the remnants of Hurricane Idalia had the potential to loop back to Florida once it reached the open waters off the coast of the Carolinas.

Hurricane Idalia live updates: Venice flooding, tide is rising, power outages

Spaghetti models Wednesday morning show that Hurricane Idalia is now more likely to continue traveling east toward Bermuda, sparing Florida from a second run.

Looping hurricanes is a rare but not unheard of occurrence. In Florida, there have been at least three hurricanes that have looped back around, though none of them struck Florida twice.

Hurricane Jeanne (2004)

Hurricane Jeanne was a Category 3 hurricane that made landfall near Hutchinson Island, Florida, in September 2004.
Hurricane Jeanne was a Category 3 hurricane that made landfall near Hutchinson Island, Florida, in September 2004.

Hurricane Jeanne developed from a tropical depression that formed just eastward of Leeward Islands on Sept. 13, 2004. Jeanne moved across Puerto Rico and Hispaniola before turning north toward the Atlantic and strengthening into a hurricane on Sept. 20, according to the NWS.

Jeanne spent the next three days making a clockwise loop in the Atlantic before moving west Northwest. She continued to intensify, becoming a Category 3 storm before it made landfall around 11 p.m. on Sept. 25 near the south end of Hutchinson Island.

Hurricane Betsy (1965)

Hurricane Betsy was a Category 3 hurricane that grazed across the Florida Keys near Key Largo on Sept. 8, 1965.
Hurricane Betsy was a Category 3 hurricane that grazed across the Florida Keys near Key Largo on Sept. 8, 1965.

Hurricane Betsy was a Category 3 hurricane that grazed across the Florida Keys near Key Largo on Sept. 8, 1965. Betsy moved quickly across the eastern Gulf of Mexico before ultimately making landfall near Grand Isle, Louisiana, on Sept. 9 as a Category 4 hurricane.

Hurricane Betsy developed into a hurricane on Aug. 31 and began rapidly intensifying over the next 36 hours. She continued traveling west and then northwest toward the Carolinas from Sept. 1-4 before making a clockwise loop on Sept. 5 and shifting her path south before making a sharp turn west on Sept. 7.

Could Idalia loop? Could Hurricane Idalia make a second run at Florida after battering its west coast?

Hurricane Isbell (1964)

Hurricane Isbell was a Category 2 hurricane that made landfall near Everglades City, Florida, in October 1964.
Hurricane Isbell was a Category 2 hurricane that made landfall near Everglades City, Florida, in October 1964.

Hurricane Isbell began its development as a weak and poorly organized disturbance between Oct. 7-8, 1964. Isbell became a tropical storm on Oct. 12 and intensified into a hurricane on Oct. 13 as it approached west Cuba. Unlike the previous storms, Hurricane Isbell made a counter-clockwise loop on Oct. 11, just before developing into a hurricane.

Hurricane Isbell turned northeast after hitting Cuba and made landfall in Florida near Everglades City on Oct. 14 as a Category 2 hurricane with sustained winds between 100 and 110 mph. Isbell traveled northeast across the Florida Peninsula, emerging just north of West Palm Beach into the western Atlantic Ocean.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Hurricane Idalia wouldn't be Florida's first time hit by looping storm