Hello all, as is my tradition, I have prepared a summary of the storm activity for the Atlantic Hurricane season. I've included the basic Saffir-Simpson Scale for those of you who don't live, eat, and breathe hurricanes. The report is organized in 3 main categories: 1) lifetimes & intensities, 2) climatology & statistics, and 3) landfall. The results and statistics here are from my own collection of data, so if you find an error or have an addition, let me know. On with the report...
Saffir-Simpson Scale of Tropical Cyclone Intensity
CATEGORY WINDS (mph) PRESSURE (millibars)
------------------- ---------- ------------------
depression 23- 39 N/A
tropical storm 40- 73 N/A
1 74- 95 > 980
2 96-110 965-979
3 111-130 945-964
4 131-155 920-944
5 >156 < 919
1. LIFETIMES AND INTENSITIES
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NAME DATES OF MAX WIND MIN PRES
ACTIVITY (mph) (mb)
-------- --------------- -------- --------
ALEX 27 JUL - 02 AUG 50 (TS) 1000
BONNIE 19 AUG - 30 AUG 115 (CAT3) 954
CHARLEY 21 AUG - 22 AUG 60 (TS) 1003
DANIELLE 24 AUG - 03 SEP 105 (CAT2) 955
EARL 31 AUG - 03 SEP 100 (CAT2) 986
FRANCES 08 SEP - 13 SEP 65 (TS) 990
GEORGES 15 SEP - 29 SEP 150 (CAT4) 938
HERMINE 17 SEP - 20 SEP 45 (TS) 999
IVAN 20 SEP - 27 SEP 90 (CAT1) 975
JEANNE 21 SEP - 30 SEP 105 (CAT2) 970
KARL 23 SEP - 28 SEP 105 (CAT2) 970
LISA 05 OCT - 09 OCT 75 (CAT1) 987
MITCH 21 OCT - 05 NOV 180 (CAT5) 905
NICOLE 24 NOV - 01 DEC 85 (CAT1) 979
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2. CLIMATOLOGY AND STATISTICS
The average annual number of tropical disturbances over the past 52 years is:
9.8 named storms
5.8 hurricanes
2.5 intense hurricanes (CAT3 or higher)
This year, the numbers were all above-average:
14 named storms
10 hurricanes
3 intense hurricanes
This season was filled with record-breaking statistics. First, from Sept 23 to Sept 27, there were four active hurricanes at one time (Georges, Ivan, Jeanne, and Karl). The last time this occurred was in 1893. There have been years with three hurricanes and a tropical storm, but very rarely four hurricanes... and not for five days!
All tropical depressions eventually made it to Tropical Storm status (which is when they get named). This is actually not too uncommon, but just thought it should be mentioned.
The weakest storm of the season was TS Alex, who only reached 50mph winds. The strongest (by a substantial margin) was Hurricane Mitch, who reached 180mph.
Nicole formed abnormally late in the season in the eastern Atlantic… November 24th. As far as I could tell, this is one of the latest dates a tropical storm developed. She finally deteriorated below tropical depression status on December 1. Note: the hurricane season officially ends on November 30th; who's the official?
Bonnie maintained hurricane strength for 140 hours, while Georges maintained hurricane status for 259 hours! That is an incredibly long time, especially considering the terrain he encountered on his journey. Mitch, the strongest storm, maintained hurricane strength for 130 hours and maintained maximum winds of 180mph for 15 hours.
Mitch was a storm for the books. He was the deadliest hurricane in 218 years. He caused well over 12,000 deaths and over $4 billion in damage. Mitch had the lowest pressure ever recorded in October in the Atlantic basin. He had the 4th lowest pressure ever recorded overall in the Atlantic (tied with Camille '69). FYI, the lowest pressure ever recorded was in Hurricane Gilbert '88 which was 888mb. To compare Mitch to the most powerful storms in the Atlantic since 1960:
Allen '80 : 190mph
Camille '69 : 190mph
Gilbert '88 : 185mph
Mitch '98 : 180mph
Anita '77 : 170mph
Carla '61 : 170mph
David '79 : 170mph
3. LANDFALL
Of the 14 named storms, 7 of them were US landfalling. Incidentally, every storm that made landfall was a US landfalling one. Mitch was a special case: he first made landfall in Honduras, then on the US, but it still counts. First column is name of storm, second is date of primary landfall, third is local time of landfall, fourth is maximum sustained winds at landfall, and fifth is closest city to location of primary landfall.
Bonnie 8/26 1500 115 Cape Fear, NC
Charley 8/22 0400 60 Corpus Christi, TX
Earl 9/3 0100 80 Panama City, FL
Frances 9/11 0100 65 Corpus Christi, TX
Georges 9/28 0400 105 Gulfport, MS (also Martinique, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cuba, Key West FL)
Hermine 9/19 1900 45 Houma, LA
Mitch 10/29 1300 75 La Ceiba, Honduras (also Fort Myers FL)
Charley 8/22 0400 60 Corpus Christi, TX
Earl 9/3 0100 80 Panama City, FL
Frances 9/11 0100 65 Corpus Christi, TX
Georges 9/28 0400 105 Gulfport, MS (also Martinique, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cuba, Key West FL)
Hermine 9/19 1900 45 Houma, LA
Mitch 10/29 1300 75 La Ceiba, Honduras (also Fort Myers FL)
That's all I have for this year's report. If anyone has any questions, corrections, additions, etc., just let me know! Next year's season begins June 1 (of course) and the first few names on deck are Arlene, Bret, and Cindy.
Please visit my tropical Atlantic headquarters.
