JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — It’s late July and the tropics are calm here in the Atlantic but a reminder that are still well within Hurricane season. On July 24, 1985, about 70 miles off of the coast of Jacksonville the NHC named Hurricane Bob.
The storm originally started on the west coast of south Florida, moved over land where it brought heavy rainfall up and over 20 inches in Everglades city before it emerged in the Atlantic and then intensified in the warm gulf stream off of our coast.
Now good news we did not see any significant damage here in Jacksonville from this storm despite how close it was. This thanks to the fact it passed to our east leaving the First Coast in the calmer left side of the storm. Bob made landfall on the evening of the 25th in South Carolina before weakening on the 26th to a remnant low. Overall from Florida to the Carolina’s Bob brought upwards of ten million dollars in damages.
Another note, this storm should not be confused with the catastrophic New England Hurricane of 1991 that was also named Bob and is the reason why the name was retired and is no longer used by the National Hurricane Center.
Another interesting fact about the actual name of Hurricane Bob. When the National Hurricane Center first started naming Hurricanes they were all only called traditionally female names. Yet that changed in 1979 when male names were incorporated in to the naming list starting with Bob.
Just a reminder that despite the lull here in July of 2022 we are still well within Hurricane Season.