Top 10 Biggest Weather Anniversaries of 2014

By: Chris Dolce

Published: January 7, 2014

The Big Four of 2004: 10-Year Anniversary

Each year is filled with weather anniversaries that are etched in the minds of meteorologists. Chances are you have your own.
We've compiled our top 10 weather anniversaries of 2014. The anniversaries we considered are at the 5- and 10-year intervals typically used to observe key anniversaries in a given year. Up first on our list is the damaging hurricane season the Sunshine State suffered through 10 years ago this summer.
In a span of about 45 days in August and September 2004, four hurricanes made direct hits on the state of Florida. Here are a few facts about the big four of 2004:

• Aug. 13, 2004: Category 4 Hurricane Charley made landfall along the southwest coast of Florida and caused catastrophic wind damage in Charlotte County. Major wind damage occurred well inland in a narrow swath across central Florida as well. A wind gust of 105 mph was recorded as far inland as Orlando.
• Sept. 4-5, 2004: Category 2 Hurricane Frances struck the eastern coast of Florida near Hutchinson Island. Frances caused more than $100 million in damage to facilities at Cape Canaveral. After moving inland, Frances produced heavy rain and flooding from Florida to New York. In addition, 103 tornadoes were spawned by Frances in six states.
• Sept. 16, 2004: Category 3 Hurricane Ivan moved inland near the border between southern Alabama and the Florida Panhandle. Ivan produced a significant amount of wind and storm surge damage along the Florida Panhandle and Alabama coasts. From there, Ivan went on to produce wind and flood damage well inland from Georgia all the way to Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey. Along this path, Ivan also produced the most tornadoes ever recorded from a tropical cyclone (118 total).
• Sept. 26, 2004: Category 3 Hurricane Jeanne made landfall in almost the exact same spot as Frances did three weeks earlier. Damage from Jeanne in the United States was estimated to be $7.6 billion. Jeanne also produced very heavy rain and flooding in the Caribbean. More than 3,000 people were killed and another 200,000 were left homeless in Haiti due to flash floods and mudslides.

The total price tag of the damage caused by these four hurricanes in 2004 is estimated to be near $51 billion.