It's very rare that two hurricanes hit in rapid succession as Hurricanes Helene and Milton did earlier this year. Both caused hundreds of millions of damage on land while disrupting the cruise industry.
The two hurricanes closed Port Tampa and Port Canaveral. Tampa was the hardest hit port in both cases with Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and Margaritaville at Sea all changing departure and arrival dates for ships.
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Milton hit while people were still cleaning up and making repairs after Helene. It was a devastating one-two punch that left tens of thousands of people without power, and in some cases, without a place to live.
Given that hurricane season runs through Nov. 1, Floridians and anyone booked on a cruise are wary of any developing weather systems. Royal Caribbean Chief Meteorologist Craig Setzer tracks storms for the cruise line and has been keeping his eye on Hurricane Oscar as it heads toward Cuba.
Image source: Craig Setzer
Hurricane Oscar's path becomes clear
Setzer had good news for cruise passengers and anyone still struggling from Hurricanes Helene and Milton. He posted an update on Hurricane Oscar on X, the former Twitter, on the morning of Sunday, Oct. 20.
"Sunday morning enhanced satellite imagery shows Hurricane Oscar making its way west southwest toward the eastern portion of Cuba where it is expected to make landfall later today or tonight," he wrote. "Because it's such a small tropical cyclone, it will likely be weakened considerably and may not survive its encounter with land."
That's very good news, and Setzer had even more positive news to share.
"If it does survive, as you can see by the simulated water vapor imagery which does a good job showing the steering forces influencing the storm, a trough in the jet stream comes along and blasts it to the northeast early this week. There remains no threat to Florida from Oscar," he shared.
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This followed a similar report from the meteorologist the previous day that actually suggested that Florida will be getting at least a 10-day bad weather reprieve.
"To help quell rumors, Hurricane Oscar, there is NO threat to Florida (or anywhere in the US)," he posted alongside an image showing the "shear forecast. "Here is the shear forecast for the next 10 days. The red areas are very high shear which will disrupt, if not destroy hurricanes. Even if Oscar was heading toward Florida, it would be torn to shreds before it could get here."
Update 10/21 1:54 p.m.:
"Florida remains basically protected for the moment from hurricanes thanks to strong shear over the area. However, the Caribbean continues with lower shear values & warm ocean temps, and models suggest another disturbance could develop there over the next week or so," Setzer posted.
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