Is Waffle House the Ultimate Storm Forecaster?

As Category 4 Hurricane Milton makes landfall, the Gulf Coast of our nation is bracing for its second major hurricane in as many weeks, and while mandatory evacuations are in place in certain areas, we urge all of you, our dear readers, to err on the side of safety. While many are glued to updates broadcasted from NOAA down to hyper-local predictions for everything from how quickly one ought to get out of Dodge to when the winds will shift and grace otherwise docile shores with standup tubes, one unlikely harbinger of what’s to come is Waffle House.

Known for being one of few if the only restaurants to stick out hurricanes in whatever capacity they might be able to run, the beloved Dixieland chain of some 1,600 delightfully greasy-spoon griddles across the Southeastern United States seems to call storms so well that in 2004, while surveying the havoc wrought by Hurricane Charley, former Federal Emergency Management (FEMA) Administrator Craig Fugate was amazed to find that a Waffle House was the only restaurant open within his vicinity, albeit serving a limited menu. Inspired by that particular establishment’s determination and dedication to its community, he went headlong into researching the phenomenon, finding that, in fact, it wasn’t a phenomenon at all, and in turn coined a storm severity scale based upon, yes, the resilience of Waffle Houses.

Waffle Houses are renowned for continuing to operate during and after storms even without running water or power. The Waffle House Index, complete with its own hashtag (#whindex) is color-coded: Green denotes a location that’s fully operational as usual; yellow suggests a limited menu and/or a restaurant running on generator power, and that there may or may not be running water; Red means that hell or high water hath risen, and that particular institution is closed for business–if still in place at all.

According to the Associated Press, as of midday on Wednesday, October 9, an alarming number of Waffle Houses in the Tampa Bay area are already shuttered and, we presume (and hope), battened-down as Hurricane Milton approaches landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast.

Our thoughts are with everyone down there, and our hopes are that you’re all staying safe as can be–the cleanup session can wait.