Tropical Storm Nicole intensifies, to make landfall in Florida as hurricane

After Florida dealt with Hurricane Ian’s effects a month ago, a rare late-season hurricane is predicted to hit the Sunshine State. This week, tropical storm Nicole is predicted to hit eastern Florida. According to the National Hurricane Center (NHC), the storm is expected to become a category 1 hurricane on the morning of November 10 (local time) as it continues to intensify.

A much wider region of the Southeast will be affected by its effects, which will include prolonged coastal flooding, beach erosion, strong winds, high surf, rip currents, and heavy rain. A storm surge warning was issued for much of Florida’s Atlantic coast due to the storm threat. Nicole has “a very large cyclonic envelope,” according to a spokesperson for the NHC in Miami, so its effects will be felt far from where it makes land.

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Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, has declared a state of emergency in 34 counties in central and eastern Florida as Nicole draws near. A few hundred miles east of the Bahamas, Nicole is centering itself and picking up strength as it moves west. Nicole has a vast wind field, so effects will be felt along a large portion of the Southeast coast, well outside of Nicole’s center of circulation. In Florida, winds are already frequently gusting over 30 mph, especially close to the Atlantic beaches and sporadically along portions of the Georgia coast. 

Florida still recuperating from Hurricane Ian

Nicole is forecast to strengthen to a Category 1 hurricane near the northwest Bahamas on November 9 before making landfall along Florida’s Atlantic coast late that night or early the next morning. However, impacts will arrive long before that. The impending storm comes as Florida is still recuperating from Hurricane Ian, which hit the US mainland about six weeks ago and became the second-deadliest hurricane in the 20th century.

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The natural disaster claimed at least 114 lives, the majority of whom drowned. Experts estimate that Ian caused about $55 billion in damage, with nearly 18,300 homes either completely destroyed or severely damaged. Experts have also noted the rarity of a hurricane in November, as storm activity typically peaks this late in the Atlantic hurricane season. Notably, the last November hurricane to hit the United States was Hurricane Kate in 1985.