Why Hurricane Idalia is so dangerous, explained in 7 maps

Hurricane Idalia made landfall in Florida on Wednesday morning as a dangerous Category 3 storm with wind speeds of 125 miles per hour. Meteorologists are projecting severe impacts along Florida’s Gulf Coast: storm surges of up to 16 feet, several inches of rainfall, and possibly tornadoes. The National Hurricane Center is warning Idalia will bring “catastrophic impacts” and “destructive life-threatening winds.”

The potential impacts from Idalia are certainly frightening, but they’re not all that surprising. This region of the world has all the ingredients for a powerful, dangerous, expensive, and destructive hurricane, from extremely...