Hurricane Michael’s Remarkable, Terrifying Run
The storm shocked forecasters by rapidly intensifying, then it remained strong for hours after landfall.
Just a few days ago, Hurricane Michael was forecast to strike the Florida Panhandle as a relatively weak hurricane—a dangerous storm, to be sure, but also nothing especially historic.
Instead, Michael will be remembered as one of the most damaging and powerful storms ever to wallop the continental United States.
After coming ashore Wednesday afternoon as a powerful Category 4 hurricane, Michael slashed a path of near total destruction across the Florida Panhandle and into southeastern Georgia. The storm’s freakishly low pressure and sustained, brutally strong winds—which peaked at 155 miles per hour—flattened neighborhoods, snapped trees in half, and left hundreds of thousands without power. At least two people lost their lives to the
