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On This Day in 2021: Devastating Cat. 4 Ida Makes Louisiana Landfall
August 29, 2023 at 01:14 AM EDT
By WeatherBug Meteorologist, Fred Allen
An inconspicuous beginning to wrecking ball, Ida made landfall near the Mouth of the Mississippi River as a Category 4 hurricane on August 29, 2021. Ida’s destructive prowess led to it being retired by the World Meteorological Organization.
Ida took ten days, much of it disorganized, to move from the western Africa coast to near Aruba between August 14 and 24. This is when it latched to a broader area of low pressure along the northern South America coast.
Fast forward a few days later, it organized enough to become a tropical depression in the southwestern Caribbean Sea. Six hours later on August 26, Ida was born. Ida intensified to a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Wind Scale packing sustained winds of 80 mph the next day, making a landfall first on the Isle of Youth and later over mainland Cuba near Playa Dayaniguas.
Ida barreled northwest, a motion it would follow up until landfall just west of the Mouth of the Mississippi River at Port Fourchon, La., around Noon CDT on August 29. The dry air that held Ida from intensifying near Cuba was long gone, as it fed off very warm to hot Gulf of Mexico waters and a favorable upper-level environment. This allowed Ida to rapidly intensify, reaching near the upper echelon of Category 4 with top sustained winds of 150 mph and higher gusts.
Make no mistake about it, Ida was a catastrophic Category 4 hurricane at landfall that day. The 150-mph sustained wind and minimum central pressure of 931 mb at landfall are eye opening. Laura in August 2020 and the Last Island Hurricane in August 1856 equal Ida’s strength, tying for strongest on record to make landfall in Louisiana west of the Mouth of the Mississippi River.
Once inland, Ida weakened quickly to a tropical storm and depression on August 30 and transitioned to extratropical on September 1. Ida turned north and northeast, caught in the main westerlies across the U.S., racing from southern Mississippi to just south of the southern New England coast and the Canadian Maritimes in 48 to 72 hours.
There’s no debating Ida’s damage. Thousands of buildings were damaged by Ida’s wind and storm surge. Lafourche and Jefferson Parishes along the Louisiana Gulf Coast had nearly every building sustain damage, including many that were destroyed in Leeville and Grand Isle. Hurricane conditions, or sustained wind greater than 74 mph, occurred across all of Louisiana south and east of Baton Rouge, La. WeatherFlow stations on the north side of Lake Pontchartrain, La., measured sustained winds of 75 mph and a peak gust of 110 mph!
Tropical storm-force winds or gusts, or greater than 39 mph, covered as far east as the western Florida Panhandle and as far north as central and northern Mississippi and inland southwestern Alabama. Ida also went on to deliver tropical storm-force gusts to coastal locations from Chesapeake Bay to the Gulf of Maine.
Ida’s storm surge was devastating, particularly along the eastern and western banks of the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain. Waves even overtopped some levee systems locally across southeastern Louisiana. The highest surge of 9 to 14 feet occurred in Plaquemines Parish. St. Bernard, Jefferson, and Lafourche Parishes, all located on either side of the Mississippi River, measured water rises of 6 to 12 feet. A similar storm surge occurred around Lake Pontchartrain. The remainder of the Gulf Coast recorded water rises of 1 to 7 feet, highest along the Mississippi coast.
Even when Ida was extratropical, it managed to pack a 1 to 3 foot storm surge along the East Coast from Chesapeake Bay to Massachusetts Bay.
The Gulf Coast, Mid-Atlantic, and New England faced a deluge during Ida’s tenure. Three to locally up to 15 inches were commonplace. Ponchatoula, La., measured 15.04 inches of rainfall, with Kiln, Miss., soaked by 13.65 inches. Three inch or greater rain rates led to deadly, catastrophic flooding across the New York City metro area and northern New Jersey. Downingtown, Pa., received 10.06 inches of rain, as Staten Island, N.Y., was swamped by 9.22 inches.
Tornadoes, always a landfalling tropical staple, were plentiful as Ida marched from the Gulf Coast to south of southern New England. Ida spawned a total of 35, mainly EF-1 or EF-0 intensity, 24 which occurred when it was a tropical cyclone. Eleven came after the transition, including one EF-3 in Gloucester County, N.J., that caused two injuries, an EF-2 in Montgomery County, Pa., that led to one death and many injuries, and a couple of other EF-2 tornadoes in Ann Arundel County, Md., and Chester County, Pa., on September 1. The last Ida-related tornado touched down in Barnstable County, Mass., on September 2.
Ida’s name will never be forgotten. There were 87 deaths from Louisiana to Connecticut, most occurring in Louisiana, New Jersey, and New York. In 2023 U.S. currency, Ida would be responsible for $87.4-billion dollars in damage. Ida’s name was also retired by the World Meteorological Organization in April of 2022.
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Source: NHC, NWS, NOAA
Story Image: A Walgreens in Larose, La., is heavily damaged by Hurricane Ida. (Wikimedia Commons via The National Guard)
Ida took ten days, much of it disorganized, to move from the western Africa coast to near Aruba between August 14 and 24. This is when it latched to a broader area of low pressure along the northern South America coast.
Fast forward a few days later, it organized enough to become a tropical depression in the southwestern Caribbean Sea. Six hours later on August 26, Ida was born. Ida intensified to a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Wind Scale packing sustained winds of 80 mph the next day, making a landfall first on the Isle of Youth and later over mainland Cuba near Playa Dayaniguas.
Ida barreled northwest, a motion it would follow up until landfall just west of the Mouth of the Mississippi River at Port Fourchon, La., around Noon CDT on August 29. The dry air that held Ida from intensifying near Cuba was long gone, as it fed off very warm to hot Gulf of Mexico waters and a favorable upper-level environment. This allowed Ida to rapidly intensify, reaching near the upper echelon of Category 4 with top sustained winds of 150 mph and higher gusts.
Make no mistake about it, Ida was a catastrophic Category 4 hurricane at landfall that day. The 150-mph sustained wind and minimum central pressure of 931 mb at landfall are eye opening. Laura in August 2020 and the Last Island Hurricane in August 1856 equal Ida’s strength, tying for strongest on record to make landfall in Louisiana west of the Mouth of the Mississippi River.
Once inland, Ida weakened quickly to a tropical storm and depression on August 30 and transitioned to extratropical on September 1. Ida turned north and northeast, caught in the main westerlies across the U.S., racing from southern Mississippi to just south of the southern New England coast and the Canadian Maritimes in 48 to 72 hours.
There’s no debating Ida’s damage. Thousands of buildings were damaged by Ida’s wind and storm surge. Lafourche and Jefferson Parishes along the Louisiana Gulf Coast had nearly every building sustain damage, including many that were destroyed in Leeville and Grand Isle. Hurricane conditions, or sustained wind greater than 74 mph, occurred across all of Louisiana south and east of Baton Rouge, La. WeatherFlow stations on the north side of Lake Pontchartrain, La., measured sustained winds of 75 mph and a peak gust of 110 mph!
Tropical storm-force winds or gusts, or greater than 39 mph, covered as far east as the western Florida Panhandle and as far north as central and northern Mississippi and inland southwestern Alabama. Ida also went on to deliver tropical storm-force gusts to coastal locations from Chesapeake Bay to the Gulf of Maine.
Ida’s storm surge was devastating, particularly along the eastern and western banks of the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain. Waves even overtopped some levee systems locally across southeastern Louisiana. The highest surge of 9 to 14 feet occurred in Plaquemines Parish. St. Bernard, Jefferson, and Lafourche Parishes, all located on either side of the Mississippi River, measured water rises of 6 to 12 feet. A similar storm surge occurred around Lake Pontchartrain. The remainder of the Gulf Coast recorded water rises of 1 to 7 feet, highest along the Mississippi coast.
Even when Ida was extratropical, it managed to pack a 1 to 3 foot storm surge along the East Coast from Chesapeake Bay to Massachusetts Bay.
The Gulf Coast, Mid-Atlantic, and New England faced a deluge during Ida’s tenure. Three to locally up to 15 inches were commonplace. Ponchatoula, La., measured 15.04 inches of rainfall, with Kiln, Miss., soaked by 13.65 inches. Three inch or greater rain rates led to deadly, catastrophic flooding across the New York City metro area and northern New Jersey. Downingtown, Pa., received 10.06 inches of rain, as Staten Island, N.Y., was swamped by 9.22 inches.
Tornadoes, always a landfalling tropical staple, were plentiful as Ida marched from the Gulf Coast to south of southern New England. Ida spawned a total of 35, mainly EF-1 or EF-0 intensity, 24 which occurred when it was a tropical cyclone. Eleven came after the transition, including one EF-3 in Gloucester County, N.J., that caused two injuries, an EF-2 in Montgomery County, Pa., that led to one death and many injuries, and a couple of other EF-2 tornadoes in Ann Arundel County, Md., and Chester County, Pa., on September 1. The last Ida-related tornado touched down in Barnstable County, Mass., on September 2.
Ida’s name will never be forgotten. There were 87 deaths from Louisiana to Connecticut, most occurring in Louisiana, New Jersey, and New York. In 2023 U.S. currency, Ida would be responsible for $87.4-billion dollars in damage. Ida’s name was also retired by the World Meteorological Organization in April of 2022.
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Source: NHC, NWS, NOAA
Story Image: A Walgreens in Larose, La., is heavily damaged by Hurricane Ida. (Wikimedia Commons via The National Guard)