Hurricanes...what are the chances?

[florida-again]

Last year my boyfriend and I lost four days of our holiday stuck at home in London waiting because Hurricane Frances chose to arrive the day we had planned to arrive!
They were the worst four days ever but it was still the best holiday ever when we got there...seriously fantastic.

And now we're planning our next holiday and haven;t even had to think...its Florida again without a doubt. However, we;ll be going in September again and can;t ignore the obvious issue (mainly because miserable kill-joys constantly point it out) WILL WE HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM AGAIN?

I know no one here can predict the weather but I'm wondering if anyone could advise...would it be THE stupidest thing ever to go at the same time again and risk the same problem???

 

[florida-again]

forget to add, we can only go away on those dates again, not at a different time. So the other option would be to go elsewhere....

 

[kevin harrison]

I always visit in September and not once have I had a problem with the weather.

 

[angel659]

Yes its hurricane season, but if you can only travel on these dates then I would go. Also if you were always worrying about weather you would never go. I have been several times and especially peak of summer and only once have we been effected this was in 1992 hurricane Andrew. Last year was especially bad, but then again each year is different. I know many people on this site has travelled in September and said its a great time to go and had no problems with hurricanes. We have chosen October only because we have children now and peak times is just too hot and too many people.

As I mentioned if you always worried about weather you would never go! Book it and count down the weeks till you go

 

[Queenie]

My housemate has been to Florida 6 times, each time in the middle of hurricane season and has only been affected once (when Hurricane Jeanne hit last year and Kissimmee went under curfew for 48hrs) and if I read correctly, last year was an above average year for the storms hitting the Orlando area? I'd try not to worry about it as the chances are quite slim of one being around over those specific dates out of the whole season that's bad enough to cause you a problem.

 

[wicket2005]

So the choice is go to Orlando or go somewhere else. Hmm, tough question - NOT - Orlando of course! I would rather be in Orlando no matter what the weather is like.

Seriously though I wouldn't worry about it, just book up and go enjoy yourself. Just don't think about the airports going on strike though.

 

[paulh]

we went last aug but as we flew scheduled we had a stop in chcargo before flying on to tampa got to manchester and we were told that due to huricane tampa was shut they gave the flowing options

1 go home and wait for tampa to open which would be 3 days

2 fly to chicargo and take it from there and fly on the first available flight to tampa when it oppened

3 fly to chicargo and take any flight that we could get on to florida that they flew to if tampa was still shut

as we haddent checked in before tampa had shut (3min before we tryed to check in )if there was no flights to florida we would have to sort out any food or accomadation ourselfs if we had checked in they would have had to acomadate us

we decided to fly to chicargo and and hope 2 was ok but risk 3

as we knew that charley was fast moving we took the risk of it being clear in 8 hours.When we got to chcargo to our dismay tampa was still shut asked which airports were open and we could fly too and was expecting none was told we could fly to miami took it flew to miami and drove up to disney in the end we only mised 1 hour of our holiday as miami flight was earler than the original tampa flight.We are going this aug as well not as ferfull that a huracane will hurt our plans
Paulh

 

[snookhams]

We have been 6 times all in hurricane season and only had a problem last year - being there during Charley has not dettered us as we are off again at the begining of August, and are planning for next year. I would say however if you are booking through a travel company or staying in a hotel you would fare marginally better than independent travellers and those in Villas - we got no help from the villa management company or the owner and had 5 days without power etc. we managed but felt that more could have been done to help us!!

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

yes it is hurricane season, but

the majority of the hurricanes do not come across the centre of Florida but either go in at the peninsular or follow the coast up and come in at South Carolina, or into the Texas area.
All you normally get is a couple of days of heavy rain.
last year was an exception.
This year the hurricanes are following their normal route.
Its like any holiday, anywhere in the world including the UK.

I would not worry about it. Its part of the fun!

 

[arieliwish]

Hi,
We were there for Frances last year (our middle weekend, 4/5 Sept) and we are booked this year for 13 Sept for 2 weeks, so no it hasn't stopped us going again.
We weighed up the facts: quieter parks/cheaper price against small risk of hurricane - no question!

We also found it was generally quieter due to the hurricane so that's a bonus! LOL

 

[steve_rob]

the majority of the hurricanes do not come across the centre of Florida but either go in at the peninsular or follow the coast up and come in at South Carolina, or into the Texas area. All you normally get is a couple of days of heavy rain. last year was an exception.

This is very true.

I don't know if this link will work (I have a login to the Orlando Sentinel website, you also might need one to get it to work) but they have an on-line storm tracker that has an archive of every storm and hurricane in the area since the early 1900's, including what path it took, what speed the winds were and how quickly the storm travelled. It's really very good.

And looking through the data, I worked out there had only been 6 hurricanes (and around 25 tropical or sub-tropical storms) in the last 30 years that had even come within 100 miles of the Orlando area. Central Florida really does escape lightly compared to other areas of the US.

Find it at: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news...4659.htmlstory?coll=orl-utility-bonus-weather

Edit:
Found a better link that doesn't seem to require you to logon.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/custom/sfl-inttrackmap.htmlstory

 

[arieljasmine]

We were stuck inside for one day of our holiday last year when Hurricane Jeanne struck, but I can't let it put me off - I love the Halloween party too much!! We are intending to go next September/October - I do think the cheaper prices and Halloween party swing it for me over the thought of hurricanes.

Sorry to hear that you had such a bad experience tho, florida-again.

ArielJasmine

 

[stal]

Hi,
We will be leaving september 11th (indirect) getting back on september 12th, but i need to be back by 13th, 14th at the latest... if there were flight problems do you know if it is possible to get an earlier flight if there is room, or to rearange flights??

 

[Miffy2003]

I think it depends on all sorts of things stal - I know last year they closed the airports totally in Orlando but I guess you could drive down to Miami or to another airport? Goodness knows what you'd get charged or if there would be availability though. I guess trip insurance would cover it? Or would it if it was your decision to need to be back for something specific?? I guess it would but I really don't know.

 

[caribbeanme]

Hi all!

I spent the first 17 years of my life living in the Caribbean and just spent another two down there. Devastating hurricanes are (1) rarer than last year would have people think and (2) completely unpredictable. Every year is supposed to be a banner hurricane year, and yet most of the time hurricanes didn't even get within spittin' distance of Florida (quite a feat when you consider how large they are). However, just because last year was a bad year doesn't mean that odds are this year will leave central Florida unscathed.

That being said, I'd just go for it. And I'm not just saying that because I picked a busy part of the season for my trip. After living in the tropics for a while you learn not to try to predict the unpredictable, or, even worse, let it ruin your fun! I'd actually feel worse if I DIDN'T go and nothing happened, than if I DID go and had a less than perfect time. Does that make sense? Probably not..

Hope this helps!

 

[matty624]

We've been 7 times, experienced major tropical storms, but nothing life changing. Until last year! Hurricane Charley wasn't very pleasent at all. We lost power for 9 days and it was awful. Can't tell you what life is like in Florida with no aircon. Bad doesn't describe it!!! Had to relocate in the end.
However, despite it putting me off for a few months, we booked again and go in under three weeks! What's a category 4 hurricane! Going to make damned sure we've plenty of torches though, at the very first sign of a storm. Oh, and if the power goes out, assume the worst, seems that the power companies (understandably) become over whelmed during a situation like Charley. Relocate, relocate, relocate!!!
Ian