Remembering Charley: Even a weather pro learned a lesson or two

When I moved to Florida in August 2003, I can't tell you how many people told me, "You'll love it here. We never have hurricanes."

Well, one year later I found myself and the entire weather team at Waterman Broadcasting giving Southwest Florida lifesaving information. It was Aug. 13, 2004, and Hurricane Charley was headed right for us.

I've been through several hurricanes in my weather career. The first was when I was in the Navy, sailing across the Atlantic. Of course, the storm forecast simply resulted in a course change — pretty easy when you're on a nuclear aircraft carrier.

While working in Charlottesville, Va., I was in charge of coverage during Hurricane Hugo (1989) and Hurricane Fran (1996.)

While my history prepared me for the day Charley hit, I can't say the day wasn't stressful.

There was a particularly intense time around 11 a.m. in the First Alert Hurricane Tracking Center. The National Hurricane Center issued its report saying the storm was still moving north. But the NBC2 First Alert Doppler Radar indicated Charley was veering east. If that trend continued for another hour or more, landfall would NOT be in Tampa, but somewhere in Charlotte County.

Robert Van Winkle, NBC-2 chief meteorologist So came the debate with other meteorologists, our news director and the general manager of the station. Do we sound the alarm, or go with the NHC's track? Whatever we did, it was up to us as meteorologists to stay calm and focused for our audience.

We decided to sound the alarm. Turns out, we made the right call.

I remember clearly how surreal it was to broadcast during a major land-falling hurricane. I was on my feet, talking nonstop, for more than 17 hours. When Charley finally moved away, I grabbed some couch cushions, put them on the floor and slept like a rock for a few hours.

To this day, I still have people tell me how our coverage helped them get through Charley. That will always mean a great deal to me.

There were two lessons everyone walked away with that day. First: Be prepared. Charley never took a "hard right" turn. The entire west coast of Florida was under a hurricane warning for a full 24 hours before Charley hit. And second: Never assume a hurricane will behave in a typical fashion.

Hurricane Charley was NOT a typical Category 4 storm. It was compact, with winds wrapped tightly around its center, which limited the storm surge along our coast. A bigger and slow-moving Category 4 hurricane would have created disastrous storm surge.

As we enter another hurricane season, I hope we don't have to forecast a hur- ricane hitting Southwest Florida. But if we do, I know we're ready. We have the most experienced meteorologists and the best forecasting equipment in the market.

The NBC2 First Alert Hurricane Tracking Center begins to buzz with activity as storms start to form. We pay very close attention to every one. Our job is to prepare you with the latest weather and forecasting information. Your job is to create a plan to protect your family and your

property. These are responsibilities we all share as residents of Southwest Florida.

— Robert Van Winkle, NBC-2