Hurricane Charley Hits Florida August 13, 2004

Hurricane Charley came ashore near Cape Coral, Florida on August 13th. The storm destroyed over 12,000 homes, killed two dozen people, and caused over $7 billion in damage. Users of AccuWeather's RadarPlus service tracked the storm before it came onshore, as it raked across Florida, and even after it made its second landfall in South Carolina.

August 9 - 15: Hurricane Charley History Graphic

NOTE: Apple Quicktime is required to play the movies at the bottom of the page.


Key West Radar, Satellite, Winds @ 8:48 EDT A closeup shows the strengthening hurricane is located off of the Florida Keys. RadarPlus shows the radar image from Key West, Florida overlaid onto a visible satellite image. Surface wind speed arrows are also shown, with counter clockwise rotation of stronger winds near the center of the storm.		Key West Radar, Satellite, Winds @ 8:54 EDT RadarPlus shows the radar image from Key West Florida overlaid onto a visible satellite image. A color gradient of observed surface wind speed is shown, with green representing light winds and red showing high winds.


Tampa Radar, Visible Satellite, Advisories @ 12:14 EDTThe Tampa local radar scope, shown on top of a visible satellite image, shows the hurricane approaching west-central Florida. Various wind and storm advisories are in effect for all counties. Tornado warning boxes are drawn as severe thunderstorm cells fan out from the storm.		Tampa Radar (Filtered), Visible Satellite, Advisories @ 12:50 EDT In this image, RadarPlus has filtered out all light radar returns, in favor of moderate to heavy areas. The outer bands and eyewall show the most radar activity. A visible satellite is in the background, while advisories are plotted in various colors.


Tampa Radar - 3:46 EDT - Hurricane Charley makes landfall -- and it's easy to discern exactly where, with RadarPlus' zoom feature and geographic detail.		Key West Radar MOVIE - Hurricane Charley churns from Cuba to west of South Florida in this impressive 9-hour animation.


Key West Radar Velocity MOVIE - Impressive wind speeds are noted in this 9-hour animation of Hurricane Charley's winds as detected by radar as the storm moves west of the Keys		Key West Radar Echo Tops MOVIE - Storm tops over 60,000 feet are shown in some of the feeder bands and the eyewall of the hurricane, as it passes west of the Florida Keys in this 9-hour loop.


Tampa Forecast Radar MOVIE - This 1-hour forecast radar loop from RadarPlus shows the eye of the storm moving over Punta Gorda and predicts the most intense eyewall action will be just to its west at landfall.		Tampa Radar MOVIE - This one-hour animation of the actual radar observations from Tampa show what RadarPlus had predicted an hour earlier -- the storm comes ashore at Punta Gorda with heavy western eyewall storms.


Orlando Radar MOVIE - Hurricane Charley rakes across the state of Florida between 4 and 11 p.m. on August 13.		Orlando Radar Velocity MOVIE - In this 9-hour loop, Hurricane Charley moves across the state of Florida, causing wind gusts over 100 mph in Orlando as it passes overhead.

Last Updated Oct. 12, 2004