File:Hurricane Idalia Batters the Southeastern United States (MODIS).jpg

English: Hurricane Idalia was a Category 1 storm as it entered the Gulf of Mexico on August 29, 2023, near the time that the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) acquired a true-color image of the storm. Less than 24 hours later, at 5:00 a.m. EDT on August 30, Idalia had rapidly intensified over the bathtub-warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, becoming a monster Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 130 mph (209 km/h), poised to strike Florida’s Big Bend region.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) reported that Idalia’s windspeeds had dropped slightly as it made landfall at Keaton Beach just before 7:45 a.m. EDT on August 30. Maximum sustained winds at that time were 125 mph (205 km/h), which placed it as a Category 3 storm on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane wind scale. It became the strongest hurricane to make landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region in more than 125 years.

Vicious winds, heavy rain, and a storm surge that set records for highest water levels in multiple locations along the Big Bend and Tampa Bay coasts left widespread damage, including power outages, downed trees, damaged homes, and flooding. Two deaths were attributed to the storm in Florida and one in Georgia as of late on August 30.

Hurricane Idalia has been a fast-moving storm, charging across Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina in less than 24 hours. Despite leaving a swath of devastation across three states, the rapid transit, Idalia’s compact size, and the quick decrease in wind speed over land all helped limit the destruction. Early assessments are underway, and reveal substantial damage from both wind and water from Florida’s coastline, through Georgia, and across South Carolina to the Atlantic Coast.

At 11:00 p.m. EDT on August 30 (0300 UTC August 31), the NHC advised that Idalia was a tropical storm, with maximum sustained winds of about 60 mph (95 km/h). It was located over land about 15 miles (25 km) north-northwest of Charleston, South Carolina and was moving to the northeast. The center of Idalia is forecast to move near or along the coast of South Carolina through August 30 then will continue just offshore the coast of North Carolina on August 31 before moving over the open waters of the western Atlantic Ocean. Tropical storm force winds extend 205 miles (355 km) from the center of Idalia, so coastal North Carolina will feel the impact of these winds, along with a storm surge of up to 4 feet.