2022 Hurricane Season

Nearly two years after Hurricane Ian tore through Southwest Florida, the only memorial remains in the hearts and souls of those who survived the raging storm.To correct that, 16-year-old twins Paul and Violet Schwartz collected more than 300 names on a petition to create a Hurricane Ian Memorial within the city of Fort Myers as a lasting tribute to the spirit, resilience and memory of the storm’s victims and survivors. On Monday afternoon, their spokesperson, artist, playwright and filmmaker Wendy White, presented a design for the memorial during a Fort Myers City Council workshop.

Out of all 50 states, Florida ranked first in damages with $116 billion attributed to the Sunshine State alone. It’s also the most expensive year for Florida in the 42-year history of the billion-dollar disaster report. Florida is the second-leading state in total costs across all years, behind Texas.

Phil Klotzbach, senior research scientist at CSU’s Department of Atmospheric Sciences, said he characterizes this season as “the most abnormal, normal hurricane season on record.”

Karen Moore, publisher of Southwest Florida Business Today talks about how the FEMA 50% rule may be a path through community and economic re-development in Southwest Florida.

Nicole made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane with estimated maximum sustained winds of 75 miles per hour early Thursday morning near Vero Beach.

As of 7 am this morning, Tropical Storm Nicole is located east of the Bahamas moving westward at 13 mph. Tropical Storm force winds are expected to increase along the Florida Atlantic coast this morning and will continue spread across the Peninsula this afternoon and evening. Nicole is forecast to make landfall late this evening in SE Florida as a hurricane with winds up to 75 mph.

Hurricane watches and tropical storm watches have been issued for much of the east coast of Florida ahead of Nicole's midweek arrival.

After pouring workers and equipment into restoring electricity after Hurricane Ian, Florida Power & Light expects to seek approval to recoup about $1.1 billion from customers, officials said Friday. It was not immediately clear when FPL will file a proposal at the Florida Public Service Commission — or how the proposal would affect customers’ monthly bills.

The National Hurricane Center is keeping an eye on two disturbances, but only one has a chance to turn into a named storm.