Forecasters expected Hurricane Idalia to rapidly intensify into a major hurricane as it headed over exceptionally warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico, on track for landfall in Florida on Wednesday, Aug. 30. Hurricane warnings were posted along a wide stretch of Florida’s Gulf coast, from near Sarasota to the Panhandle, including Tampa Bay.
Hurricane scientist Haiyan Jiang of Florida International University explains how two conflicting forces – record-high ocean heat and wind shear, the latter influenced by El Niño – were determining Idalia’s future, and how they have made the 2023 hurricane season overall difficult to forecast.
