Storm of the Century walloped Florida 25 years ago

In March 1993, Bob and Sherry Wirtel lived in a mobile home park across the street from the old Rio Civic Center.

Bob, a truck driver with Armellini Logistics, was on the road in Georgia when he called his wife in a panic.

"He was passing through a storm and was worried," Sherry remembered. "He told us to go to a friend's house because the same storm was headed for us."

For Floridians, that storm was 100-mph wind gusts, tornadoes, torrential rain, a deadly storm surge — and even snow — crammed inside a violent squall line.

At the time, it was dubbed the "Storm of the Century."

The extratropical low-pressure system formed along the Texas Gulf Coast and barreled across the Florida peninsula at 40 mph — some satellite imagery showed the storm racing east at 90 mph — during the early-morning hours of March 13, according to the National Weather Service.

In Florida, 44 people died.

[ Below: An infrared data satellite loop shows the development and progress of the derecho-producing squall line associated with the Storm of the Century. Having trouble seeing the image? Click here. Credit: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ]

On the Treasure Coast, the winter storm, which was uncharacteristically strong for that time of year, ripped roofs off homes and left tens of thousands without electricity, according to reports in The Stuart News.

March, it turns out, can be an unpredictable time for weather, said Randy Lascody, senior meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Melbourne.

"It's that transition from winter to spring," he said. "It's then when we get a pattern of these real strong storms."

The 1993 superstorm left its mark, and, because of the recent introduction of Doppler, meteorologists were able to predict its strength a few days in advance.

"You can have a year like that when nothing really bad happens and then out of the clear blue, you get one, a bombshell event," Lascody said. "That was it for that year."

'It happened so fast'

Sherry Wirtel, who now lives in Jensen Beach, underestimated the severity of the storm. She said she took her time, packed a few bags into the car and secured her 3-year-old daughter, Emily, into a car seat.

Not until she backed out of the driveway did she realize the storm's strength.

"I couldn't see where I was," she said. "It happened so fast. Trees were leaning to the left but falling to the right."

Within seconds of deciding to pull back into the driveway, a 40-foot pine fell and crushed the top of her car, the force of it pounding the Chrysler LeBaron's frame into the ground.

"All I remember is I was afraid to turn around because I didn't know what I would see in the back seat," she said.

Surprisingly, Emily was calm — and not hurt — but trapped in the car seat.

Sherry climbed out the driver's side window because none of the doors would open.

Fire Rescue was able to cut Emily free of the car seat's straps in about 10 minutes.

"The only thing (Emily) remembers from that day is that she wanted to marry a fireman," Sherry said. "I'll always remember that wind."

The perfect storm

On March 11, meteorologists noticed a rapid development of an intense low-pressure system in the Gulf of Mexico "that was pretty strong for being so far south," Lascody said. Some forecasters used the term "meteorological bomb."

More: Bomb cyclone, thundersnow, polar vortex: Cool cold-weather terms explained

Conditions were favorable for intensification as a powerful jet stream also developed across the eastern United States, according to the National Weather Service. Strong temperature contrasts caused rapid strengthening.

A dangerous squall line developed, driven by strong winds. It ran the length of Florida and extended as far south as Cuba. It pushed severe weather in front of it and left behind record-low temperatures. It even dropped 6 inches of snow in Tallahassee and traces of snow in Jacksonville and Fernandina Beach.

In essence, it was the perfect winter storm.

"It had all the impacts," Lascody said.

After making landfall near Florida's Big Bend region just after midnight March 13, it raced east across the state.

Some Treasure Coast residents were jolted awake about 4:30 a.m. to "crunching noises," according to The Stuart News reports. Screen porches were ripped apart in Jensen Beach and tossed around like leaves, and rain and wind caused roofs to collapse in Stuart.

Fort Pierce resident Mary King was tending the Roosevelt Bridge in Stuart when the storm arrived. She said "something" told her to leave the second-floor control tower, according to news reports.

By the time she reached the first floor, winds had blown out the control tower windows, and she held the doors shut against the winds until police arrived 15 minutes later.

The winds continued into the day, news reports say. The highest sustained winds were reported about 1:30 p.m., when they reached 65 mph in Rio.

By noon, Martin County Public Safety had responded to 115 calls, mostly for downed power lines and damage to homes. St. Lucie County officials took about 1,500 calls between midnight and 3 p.m., according to news reports.

Gov. Lawton Chiles declared a state of emergency for Martin County because of the threat of tornadoes, and President Bill Clinton declared 21 Florida counties a federal disaster area.

Lascody and a colleague traveled to Gifford to survey damage, but could not confirm if a tornado had hit the area.

"If it was a tornado, it could have been a borderline F0 or F1," he said, meaning wind speeds between 72 and 112 mph. "By and large, the Treasure Coast dodged a bullet."

Hurricanes: What you need to know

Temperatures in Martin and St. Lucie counties fell to a record low of 36 degrees the day after the storm, according to the National Weather Service. The previous low for March 14 was 45 degrees in 1969.

"We had borderline freezes all the way down to the Treasure Coast, which is pretty late in the year for a freeze," Lascody said. "I mean, you can't kill a bougainvillea, but this storm did."

Forecast milestones

The Storm of the Century — also known as the "No Name Storm," the "Great Blizzard of 1993" and the "Blizzard of the Century" — marked a milestone in weather forecasting in the United States.

Meteorologists were able to more accurately predict the fast-moving system's severity five days in advance because of the introduction of Doppler, which locates precipitation, calculates its motion and estimates its type, such as rain, snow or hail.

The National Weather Service in Melbourne first got Doppler about 18 months before the storm, Lascody said. It was one of the first weather services to implement it.

Until then, the biggest test for meteorologists had been Hurricane Andrew, the Category 5 storm that decimated south Miami-Dade County in August 1992.

Hurricane Irma: A look back at the September 2017 storm

Holy wind, Batman: Storm chaser attempts to measure wind speed in Key West

"We had had a little bit of severe weather that winter, in January or February," he said. "And there were record hailstorms in March of 1992 that caused millions of dollars worth of damage."

Forecast models were not as accurate 25 years ago as they are today, Lascody said, "but (the superstorm) didn't catch us totally off guard.

"We did have a few days' notice," he said.

[ Below: An infrared satellite loop of the storm on March 14, 1993. Having trouble seeing the image? Click here. Credit: National Weather Service ]

Around Florida

Even with a more accurate forecast model and warnings, Big Bend area residents were not prepared for the devastating storm surge, Lascody said.

"People just didn't think you had to worry about things like that in March," he said.

A 12-foot storm surge — higher than many created by hurricanes — smashed into Taylor County, just north of Tampa Bay, resulting in at least seven deaths, according to the National Weather Service.

The Coast Guard rescued 235 stranded boaters in the Gulf of Mexico, and the 205-foot Honduras freighter Fantastico sank as it carried a load of fertilizer from Miami to Tampa. It sits in 115 feet of water about 50 miles off Fort Myers.

On Florida's east coast, Palm Beach County restaurateur Chuck Muer, wife Betty and friends George and Lynn Drummey, of Michigan, left the Bahamas on March 11 on a 40-foot sailboat, traveling into the path of the storm. They were never found.

Elsewhere, an F2 tornado — 113-157 mph winds — near Chiefland in Levy County killed three people. Other tornado fatalities were reported in Alachua and Lake counties, according to the National Weather Service.

Lascody remembered issuing the tornado warning for Lake County.

"A mobile home was hit, and I remember an infant was killed," he said. "That was the first time I worked when there was a fatality from a storm.

"It was not like anything we'd experienced."

One for the books

Extremely low barometric pressures were recorded in more than 10 states across the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic, according to the National Weather Service.

In Tallahassee, pressure readings plummeted to 976 millibars, making it more significant than most land-falling hurricanes at that time.

Because of its size, the storm also had a wider scope of influence, Lascody said. Instead of just battering Florida with hurricane-force winds and rain, it walloped most of the East Coast as well — but with wind and snow.

What's up, weather?: Follow latest climate news with our new Climate Point newsletter

Hurricanes, no fun!: 5 reasons why it's not fun living in Florida

Sixty inches of snow fell in Mount LeConte, Tennessee, and 50 inches of snow was recorded in Mount Mitchell, North Carolina, according to the National Weather Service in Wilmington, North Carolina. Some snow remained on the ground there until April 12.

The Eastern Carolinas saw wind gusts of 40 to 90 mph.

The volume of water the storm dropped was immense — enough to flood 44 million acres of land 1 foot deep, according to weather service data. The volume of snow, nearly 13 cubic miles, was enough to cover Florida 1 foot, 2 inches deep.

Every major airport on the East Coast was closed at some point during the storm.

El Niño or an anomaly?

The transition from El Niño to La Niña years could generate strong storms, including dangerous tornadoes, Lascody said.

El Niño is characterized by unusually warm ocean temperatures in the Equatorial Pacific, as opposed to La Niña's unusual cold. Both have important consequences for weather around the world, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

For Florida, El Niño simply means low-pressure centers tend to form more frequently over the Gulf of Mexico, upping Florida's chances to experience severe weather associated with the systems.

"El Niño doesn't cause any particular severe weather event, but it sets the stage," he said.

However, 1993 fell short of the criteria for an El Niño classification, even though some of its trademarks were present, including slightly warmer ocean temperatures.

"It was close," Lascody said. "There was a little bit of warmer water, but it wasn't like some of the big El Niños.

"But as 1993 proved, strong, severe weather is possible in any year."

Roll with the changes

The Storm of the Century not only changed the way meteorologists track and issue warnings for significant weather events, but it also shifted the way the weather service in Melbourne is organized, Lascody said.

"When there's a potential for severe weather, we staff up," Lascody said. "We get ready for the worst-case scenario because things can happen so quickly."

Preparation is critical to minimizing loss of life and property damage during extreme weather, Lascody said. A landfall near Tampa, for example, could be devastating.

"Tampa is exploding," he said. "There's high potential for a lot of people to be in danger there.

"Always keep an eye on the forecast. You never know exactly the impacts a system will have."

Maureen Kenyon is TCPalm's trends reporter, keeping Treasure Coast residents updated on hot topics and happenings. Do you have a story to tell? Want to start a conversation? Send an email to maureen.kenyon@tcpalm.com, call 772-221-4249 or follow her on Twitter @_MaureenKenyon_.