Weather

Hurricane season sets records

Above average activity continues in Atlantic basin

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BY THE REPORTER

Posted - Friday, November 28, 2008 10:00 AM EST

During this years June-through-November hurricane season, the U.S. coast took a record number of consecutive storm hits, while the Florida Keys dodged potentially devastating tropical systems.

The Atlantic basin storm season officially ends Sunday. This seasons total (assuming no new storms) was 16 named storms tropical storms and hurricanes.

Of the 16 storms, eight were hurricanes and five became major hurricanes of Category 3 or higher strength, according to the season report issued by the National Hurricane Center, a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The totals show this was a season with above-average activity, according to NOAA hurricane researchers. The totals are also within the ranges predicted by NOAA scientists in their pre-season and midseason forecasts.

Statistics from U.S. hurricane tracking in the last 60 years show that the average number of named storms in a season is 11, with six hurricanes and two major hurricanes.

NOAAs August outlook called for 14 to 18 named storms, seven to 10 hurricanes and three to six major hurricanes.

For the first time on record, six consecutive tropical cyclones Dolly, Edouard, Fay, Gustav, Hanna and Ike struck the U.S. mainland. A record three major hurricanes Gustav, Ike and Paloma struck Cuba.

This was also the first Atlantic season to have a Category 3 major hurricane form in five consecutive months, from July to November.

Gerry Bell, lead seasonal hurricane forecaster at the federal Climate Prediction Center, said this season was consistent with the current multiyear trend of above-average tropical activity.

It is the tenth season with above-normal activity in the past 14 years, Bell said in a NOAA report released Wednesday.

This season is tied as fourth most active for named storms and major hurricanes, and tied as fifth most active for hurricanes since 1944, which was the first year aircraft missions flew into tropical storms and hurricanes.

The season shattered other records as well:

Bertha was a tropical cyclone for 17 days (July 3-20), making it the longest-lived July storm on record in the Atlantic Basin.

Fay is the only storm on record to make landfall four times in the state of Florida, and to prompt tropical storm and hurricane watches and warnings for the states entire coastline, which happened at various times during its August lifespan.

Paloma, reaching Category 4 status with top winds of 145 mph, is the second-strongest November hurricane on record, after Lenny in 1999 with top winds of 155 mph.

A record season

Named storms: 16 (average 11)

Hurricanes: 8 (average 6)

Major hurricanes: 5 (average 2)

Florida Keys threats:

Tropical Storm Fay: Hurricane watch, tropical storm warning Aug. 17. Fay crossed the Keys with tropical storm-force winds on Monday, Aug. 18 before hitting the southwest coast and traveling up the state.

Hurricane Gustav: Tropical storm watch (Lower Keys only) Aug. 29; tropical storm warning Aug. 30. Gustav crossed Cuba as a Category 4 hurricane and passed west of the Keys on Aug. 30 before making landfall in Louisiana on Sept. 1.

Hurricane Ike: Hurricane watch Sept. 7, tropical storm warning Sept. 8. At one point the farthest forecast track showed a Keys hit, but the track shifted westward. Ike passed well west of the Keys on Sept. 10.