Official End of Record-breaking Atlantic Hurricane Season

The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season came to its official end yesterday, but not before having captured a number of records. For one, the season saw a record-breaking number of named storms, at 30, surpassing the 28 from 2005. Of the 30 storms, 12 made landfall in the U.S., also a record. The previous record was nine, set in 1916. There were so many storms, in fact, that the predetermined list of 21 names was exhausted, necessitating the use of the Greek alphabet for just the second time in history. While many organizations predicted above-normal activity in their pre-season forecasts, none came close to the final tally. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicted there would be 13-19 named storms, while the Colorado State University’s (CSU’s) Tropical Meteorology Project forecasted 16 named storms (eventually increasing the number to 19 in an updated forecast released just after the season officially began). Speaking about the past season, CSU Tropical Meteorology Project hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach said, “I think really what stood out to me about 2020 was the extremely active late season.” He added, “October and November were extremely active with seven storms and a whopping four major hurricanes (Delta, Epsilon, Eta, and Iota).” While the official hurricane season has concluded, NOAA advises that tropical storms may continue to develop past that day. Additionally, the systems may also develop ahead of the official start of the season on June 1, as happened earlier this year with the formation of Tropical Storm Arthur on May 17. Read more at NOAA and USA Today.