Hurricane Ivan produced the worst-ever tropical tornado outbreak
The destruction was far from over when the major hurricane roared ashore in mid-September 2004
Hurricane Ivan caused more than $20 billion in damage when it crashed through the Caribbean and into the northern Gulf Coast in the middle of Sept. 2004.
Winds as strong as 195 km/h pushed a tremendous storm surge into Alabama and Florida. High winds knocked out power to millions of homes.
And the storm’s remnants went on to produce the worst tornado outbreak ever observed during a landfalling tropical system.
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A very favourable Atlantic turned the 2004 season ferocious, producing fifteen named storms, nine hurricanes, and six storms that grew to Category 3 intensity or stronger.
Five of those hurricanes struck the United States within a six-week window, including Charley, Frances, Gaston, Ivan, and Jeanne.
Ivan proved one of the most destructive storms of the group. The storm existed for a whopping 22.5 days and reportedly tracked more than 10,000 kilometres from the eastern Atlantic to the U.S.
The powerful hurricane grew into a scale-topping Category 5 three separate times as it traversed the Caribbean, bringing devastating winds and 700+ mm of flooding rains to Jamaica.
Hurricane Ivan weakened slightly and grew in size as it entered the Gulf of Mexico. The centre of the storm made landfall near Gulf Shores, Alabama, with 195 km/h winds and a massive eye that measured nearly 100 km across.
Destructive winds and a devastating storm surge up to 4.5 metres above ground level caused widespread damage in Alabama and Florida. But the danger didn’t stop there.
Widespread tornadic supercell thunderstorms developed as Ivan pushed inland toward the Mid-Atlantic states.
All told, officials recorded nearly 120 tornadoes between Sept. 15 and Sept. 18, including the largest outbreak ever observed in Virginia. The strongest tornado was an F3 that tore through the Washington, D.C., suburbs.
Ivan’s whopping tornado count made this the largest tropical tornado outbreak on record, a grim milestone that still stands today. The 2004 storm just beat out the previous record of about 115 tornadoes observed in Texas during Hurricane Beulah in 1967.
Header image of Hurricane Ivan in the Gulf of Mexico courtesy of NOAA/NASA.