TAMPA, Fla. — As Hurricane Ian grew into a monster storm on Wednesday, it drew troubling comparisons to Hurricane Charley, which devastated Charlotte County in 2004, and one disturbing difference.
While the storms’ tracks were shaping up to be similar, experts noted how Ian dwarfed Charley. By 3 a.m., Wednesday, the diameter of Ian’s eye had grown to about 35 miles. That’s large enough to fit the entire extent of Charley’s hurricane-force wind field, Rick Knabb, a hurricane expert for The Weather Channel, noted in a tweet.
“This will produce a much wider swath of damaging wind, storm surge, flooding rains,” Knabb’s tweet said.
