I’m in SC where Hurricane Ian has been. I’ve been through several Hurricanes but never with this cool temperature. It was in the upper 50s this morning and now at 3:20 pm it’s only 60. How does any tropical system hold together in 60 degree temps?
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Hurricanes are powered by warm *water*, not necessarily warm air.
Cold air will eventually sap them of strength, but water temperature changes really slowly and air temperature can change really fast. So there’s no particularly reason you can’t have a cold air mass and then a hurricane rolls in powered by the still warm water.
Hurricanes are giant low pressure areas; they draw in air from adjacent areas and this time of year in the US that’s air from the north. I saw the same thing here in Florida (the hurricane passed about 50 miles from my home). Yesterday about 5PM it was 64 degrees, we hadn’t seen temperatures like that since April even in the early morning. It won’t last long.
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