Milton hit Florida: let’s find out about the hurricane.

Let’s start with its definition: a hurricane is a violent tropical cyclone, with winds of 120 km/h (75 mph) or more, accompanied by intense rainfall and usually located in the North Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico or the Caribbean Sea. In boating license books we have learned that, for the Beaufort Scale, hurricane corresponds to the maximum recordable, which corresponds to winds exceeding 32 m/s (60 knots), generating gales with waves over 14 m high and extensive damage to property and people; in short, when one hears the word hurricane, there is cause for fear, and in the autumn period, especially Central America, is affected by this particular form of bad weather.

The latest hurricane to hit the news was Milton, called the “storm of the century” by U.S. President Joe Biden. It formed and drew much energy from the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, which are abnormally warm at this time. Milton has therefore several times reached category 5, the highest category for such an extreme event. Tropical cyclones are measured with the Saffir-Simpson scale, named after the two scientists who perfected it in 1969 and divided it precisely into 5 categories: based on wind strength and sea state, one starts at the lowest level of category 1 (wind between 64 and 82 knots) and goes up to category 5 classified as disastrous (wind over 130 knots).

Milton touched down, hitting the city of Siesta-Key in Sarasota County, Florida when it was not yet 6 a.m. in Italy on the night of Wednesday, Oct. 9 to Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. To be fair, the alarmism of local U.S. authorities also stemmed from the damage caused by the last hurricane to hit the East Coast a couple of weeks ago, Helene, which destroyed numerous homes, felled plants and sank boats. The images in the press today, as then, are typical day-after images, bringing with them a trail of devastation and, unfortunately, death as well. As can be imagined, although hurricanes can be observed from Space and meteorologists are able to predict their trajectories, it is difficult to salvage all that can be saved.

In the boating industry, small boats that can be towed escape the fury of the storm, but it is virtually impossible to get the large boats crowding the marinas to safety. Some owners have even decided to take refuge on their boats; such is the case with the Blue Symphonie, an 83-footer moored at Marina Jack in Sarasota and whose owner was seen a few hours before Milton’s arrival relaxing on his boat, ready to face a decidedly eventful night. The marina’s manager, Joe Catell, strolled along the docks before the hurricane to make sure everyone had braced their moorings and, near Blue Symphonie, stopped with the owner. “Some people think I’m a fool,” the owner said, “but this is my home and I don’t see any difference with any other kind of living quarters.”

Similar situation for Joseph Malinowski, a.k.a. Lieutenant Dan, who did not want to abandon his sailboat, saying he would still float even if the tide rose 4.5 m. Although the Police tried to get him to safety in a safe haven, Joseph remained on board and the fury of the storm caused the moorings to break and his boat to wander around the bay until it ran aground under a bridge, dismasting: Lieutenant Dan still managed to save himself. Merchant and cruise ships also faced Hurricane Milton during their navigation. In cases such as these, crews are prepared to deal with the emergency; the Sun Princess, a 345 m futuristic cruiser, was hijacked and made to stand by 5 miles off shore before entering port in Fort Lauderdale, and as a precautionary measure, frail and sick people were evacuated by Coast Guard helicopter.

Damage in the harbors was also numerous, mostly caused by boats slamming into docks and destroying infrastructure. Despite the emergency having been issued for days and the recent experience of Hurricane Helene, and despite the fact that numerous websites had explained what to do to insure your boat, many boat owners underestimated Milton’s power, thus creating damage to their boat and the harbors, which were also torn apart by wind gusts exceeding 65 knots.

But how do hurricanes arise? They form above the ocean due to water temperatures above 26°C. With this temperature, water evaporating from the surface turns into warm air that eventually condenses into increasingly thick clouds. The cooler air descending from the disturbance collides with the warm air, and increasingly strong winds begin to be generated, blowing in a circular direction due to gravity and the Earth’s rotation. Tropical cyclones have the characteristic of weakening after hitting land because they are no longer “fed” by the energy of warm ocean waters. After discharging a lot of rain and generating violent gusts of wind, their charge fades quickly-that is why, shortly after their passage, the hurricane downgrades to a tropical storm and loses power until it vanishes.

Federico Lanfranchi