Hurricane Andrew Timeline – 9 days before landfall

On this date 30 years ago – Saturday, August 15, 1992 – nobody was thinking about hurricanes. The system that would become Hurricane Andrew was a distant disturbance on the other side of the ocean.

Unbeknownst to us in South Florida, it was less than 9 days from landfall. We had no thought, of course, that this tropical disturbance would turn into a hurricane, let alone explode into a Category 5.

At 11:30 AM that Saturday morning, NHC forecaster Lixion Avila noted that the “cloudiness and showers… had become a little more organized.” The disturbance was speeding to the west at 20 to 25 mph. But it was over 3,000 miles from Miami.

It would take another day and a half before the system would acquire a defined circulation.

In 2022, the tropics are expected to remain quiet for the rest of this week, at least.