With the arrival of December, we bid farewell to hurricane season in the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. Scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration accurately predicted that the 2020 season would be more active than normal but reality exceeded expectations. Here are five mind-blowing things to know about this year’s season.
1. We had 30 named storms: That’s more storms than human names assigned for the year. After tropical storms Arthur, Bertha, Cristobal, Dolly, Edouard, Fay, Gonzalo, Josephine, Kyle, Omar, Rene, Vicky and Wilfred, and hurricanes Hanna, Isaias, Laura, Marco, Nana, Paulette, Sally and Teddy, meteorologists had to use at least nine Greek letters from Alpha to Iota. Should another storm develop into a cyclone that merits a name, it will be called Kappa.
Previously, the most active Atlantic hurricane season was 2005, the year Katrina devastated New Orleans as one of 27 named storms. That season was the first to exhaust human names and use Greek letters.
2. Nearly half the named storms were hurricanes: The 2020 season had 13 hurricanes when an average season only has six. This year, six storms were considered major hurricanes, or having maximum winds exceeding 110 mph, when an average season only has three. NOAA scientists said 2020 was the fifth consecutive year with an above-normal Atlantic hurricane season.
3. A dozen named storms hit the U.S.: The previous record was set in 1916, when nine storms struck the continental United States. Five of the 12 storms in 2020 that made landfall in the U.S. came ashore in Louisiana. Only three named storms made landfall in Texas this year, but every county along the Texas Gulf Coast recorded tropical storm-force winds at some point this year.
4. 10 storms formed in September alone: Not only did September 2020 generate the most named storms in the Atlantic in a single month, but meteorologists ran out of human names with Tropical Storm Wilfred by Sept. 18.
5. Season’s end is just a date: As meterorologists will tell you, the end of hurricane season is an artificial milestone — Mother Nature could still conjure up another tropical storm late in the year. Tropical Storm Alice in 1954 developed as late as Dec. 30 before becoming a hurricane the next day.
Nature has other plans on this final “official” day of the 2020 Atlantic Hurricane Season. An area of low pressure near the Madeira Islands could acquire enough subtropical characteristics in the next few days to keep the record season going.https://t.co/XZO7pOrOHA pic.twitter.com/ckKlRKqdJE
— National Weather Service (@NWS) November 30, 2020
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