Earth
Hurricane Isaias: Why It Hit Florida in an El Niño Year
El Niño usually brings upper-level winds that rip Atlantic storms apart, and the 2026 season had been unusually quiet. The Short explains how Hurricane Isaias still formed late and then rapidly strengthened over an abnormally warm Gulf of Mexico before striking the Florida Panhandle. It also lays out the surge, rain and power outages that followed.
The numbers
- Isaias was the latest first Atlantic hurricane of a season since 1914.
- The Gulf was around 86°F (30°C), roughly 2.7°F warmer than normal.
- Winds jumped from 40 to 80 mph in a single day, peaking at 120 mph.
- It made landfall near Destin on 9 October 2026 as a Category 2 with 105 mph winds.
- Over 884,000 customers lost power in Florida and Alabama; at least four people died.
Sources cited in the video: Associated Press · Yale Climate Connections · CBS News · Fox Weather · NPR
