{"id":4194,"date":"2026-06-14T11:04:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-14T11:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=4194"},"modified":"2026-06-14T11:04:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-14T11:04:11","slug":"orlando-sentinel-150-wild-weather-helped-shape-central-florida-from-the-very-beginning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=4194","title":{"rendered":"Orlando Sentinel 150: Wild weather helped shape Central Florida from the very beginning"},"content":{"rendered":"

Living in Florida\u2019s peninsula, we have an ocean to the east of us, a large sea to the west, and in between we\u2019re dotted and crisscrossed with lakes and streams.<\/p>

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Weather is primarily the movement of large air masses, picking up moisture along the way. And for millions of years, all that moisture surrounding us in Central Florida has created a variety of extreme weather events unlike anywhere else in the United States.<\/p>\n

The region has seen powerful hurricanes created by warming temperatures in the Atlantic and Gulf, which push mountains of sea water into the coasts and dissolve miles of sandy beaches.<\/p>\n

Tornadoes, spawned by warm moist air rising and colliding with cooling jet streams, can level forests within minutes. Freezes caused by large cold fronts pushing into the state from arctic regions can ice over and deaden fruitful citrus trees.<\/p>\n

Wildfires caused by dry spells scorch thousands of acres of dry brush, and sinkholes collapse the ground into empty underground caverns once filled with water.<\/p>\n

Even afternoon thunderstorms that rattle your windows and scare your pets are caused by Florida\u2019s spot on the Earth.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s very unique to Florida is that we have sea breezes coming from both sides of the state; those will collide and that will really kick off a thunderstorm,\u201d said Robert Haley, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Melbourne.<\/p>\n

In early times, most humans barely paid attention to weather calamities because the region was so sparsely populated. A tornado landed in an open field: Who knew?<\/p>\n

But as the Central Florida region grew, we not only started to notice and protect ourselves, we changed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re certainly more sensitive to weather events because of how many more people are here in Florida now,\u201d Haley said.<\/p>\n

Today, the weather affects how much you pay for homeowner\u2019s insurance and your groceries, determining whether that citrus fruit or vegetable you\u2019re eating was grown in Florida or South America.<\/p>\n

Weather also influences how much local governments will dig into tax revenues to shield us, including building stronger infrastructure to better direct the flow of stormwater, assembling emergency management teams and equipment, and organizing shelters.<\/p> \n

As the Orlando Sentinel celebrates its 150th birthday this year, we take a look back at some of the most significant weather events that helped form our region today.<\/p>\n

HURRICANES<\/h4>\n

The 1921 hurricane season was when many Orlandoans saw the ferocity of a tropical cyclone for the first time. And it laid the groundwork in the fast growing city in preparing for future storms over the next several decades.<\/p>\n

On Oct. 25, a hurricane with winds up to 140 mph slammed into Tampa Bay and barreled eastward across the state, killing eight people and causing $10 million in damage \u2013 about $215 million today.<\/p>\n

\u201cOrlando escaped lightly, but the storm had a mean buzz and City Beautiful residents trembled,\u201d read the headline on the front page of the Orlando Morning Sentinel.<\/p>\n

Trees in Orlando were uprooted, signs blew down, a frame building collapsed after an oak fell on top of it, and power was out for days.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew houses that have never leaked dripped water by the dishpan full,\u201d according to the Sentinel story. \u201cPanes that have never broken were demolished. And half-century old trees that had never trembled fell prone to the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Orlando was spared the worst of the hurricane, the storm provided city leaders with a new perspective in planning the city\u2019s growth.<\/p>\n

\u201cCatastrophic hurricanes over the past several decades have fundamentally changed the way Florida communities are planned, designed and constructed today, along the coast and inland,\u201d said Dennis Smith, director of the Mark & Marianne Barneby Planning and Development Lab at Florida State University.<\/p>\n

Since then, buildings have been designed and built to withstand strong winds. Roads are constructed to redirect stormwater runoff to prevent flooding in neighborhoods. Cities and counties invest large portions of their fiscal budgets toward emergency management teams and preparedness plans, including setting up shelters and operations centers.<\/p>\n

Still, Central Florida would live through even more destructive tropical systems that led to continued improvements.<\/p>\n