Atlantic hurricane season

File:1851-2017 Atlantic hurricanes and tropical storms by month.png

Atlantic tropical storm and hurricane frequency (by month, based on data from 1851-2017)^[1]

Hurricane tracks from 1980 through 2014. Green tracks did not make landfall in US; yellow tracks made landfall but were not major hurricanes at the time; red tracks made landfall and were major hurricanes.

The Atlantic hurricane season is the period in a year when hurricanes usually form in the Atlantic Ocean. Tropical cyclones in the North Atlantic are called hurricanes, tropical storms, or tropical depressions. In addition, there have been several storms over the years that have not been fully tropical and are categorized as subtropical depressions and subtropical storms. Even though subtropical storms and subtropical depressions are not technically as strong as tropical cyclones, the damages can still be devastating.

Worldwide, tropical cyclone activity peaks in late summer, when the difference between temperatures aloft and sea surface temperatures is the greatest. However, each particular basin has its own seasonal patterns. On a worldwide scale, May is the least active month, while September is the most active.^[2] In the Northern Atlantic Ocean, a distinct hurricane season occurs from June 1 to November 30, sharply peaking from late August through September;^[2] the season's climatological peak of activity occurs around September 10 each season.^[3] This is the norm, but in 1938, the Atlantic hurricane season started as early as January 3.

Tropical disturbances that reach tropical storm intensity are named from a pre-determined list. On average, 10.1 named storms occur each season, with an average of 5.9 becoming hurricanes and 2.5 becoming major hurricanes (Category 3 or greater). The most active season was 2005, during which 28 tropical cyclones formed, of which a record 15 became hurricanes. The least active season was 1914, with only one known tropical cyclone developing during that year.^[4] The Atlantic hurricane season is a time when most tropical cyclones are expected to develop across the northern Atlantic Ocean. It is currently defined as the time frame from June 1 through November 30, though in the past the season was defined as a shorter time frame. During the season, regular tropical weather outlooks are issued by the National Hurricane Center, and coordination between the Weather Prediction Center and National Hurricane Center occurs for systems which have not formed yet, but could develop during the next three to seven days.

Concept

The basic concept of a hurricane season began during 1935,^[5] when dedicated wire circuits known as hurricane circuits began to be set up along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts,^[6] a process completed by 1955.^[7] It was originally the time frame when the tropics were monitored routinely for tropical cyclone activity, and was originally defined as from June 15 through October 31.^[8] Over the years, the beginning date was shifted back to June 1, while the end date was shifted to November 15,^[6] before settling at November 30 by 1965.^[9]^[10] This was when hurricane reconnaissance planes were sent out to fly across the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico on a routine basis to look for potential tropical cyclones, in the years before the continuous weather satellite era.^[8] Since regular satellite surveillance began, hurricane hunter aircraft fly only into storm areas which are first spotted by satellite imagery.^[11]

Operations

During the hurricane season, the National Hurricane Center routinely issues their Tropical Weather Outlook product, which identifies areas of concern within the tropics which could develop into tropical cyclones. If systems occur outside the defined hurricane season, special Tropical Weather Outlooks will be issued.^[12] Routine coordination occurs at 1700 UTC each day between the Weather Prediction Center and National Hurricane Center to identify systems for the pressure maps three to seven days into the future within the tropics, and points for existing tropical cyclones six to seven days into the future.^[13] Possible tropical cyclones are depicted with a closed isobar, while systems with less certainty to develop are depicted as "spot lows" with no isobar surrounding them.

HURDAT

The North Atlantic hurricane database, or HURDAT, is the database for all tropical storms and hurricanes for the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea, including those that have made landfall in the United States. The original database of six-hourly positions and intensities were put together in the 1960s in support of the Apollo space program to help provide statistical track forecast guidance. In the intervening years, this database — which is now freely and easily accessible on the Internet from the National Hurricane Center's (NHC) webpage — has been utilized for a wide variety of uses: climatic change studies, seasonal forecasting, risk assessment for county emergency managers, analysis of potential losses for insurance and business interests, intensity forecasting techniques and verification of official and various model predictions of track and intensity.

HURDAT was not designed with all of these uses in mind when it was first put together and not all of them may be appropriate given its original motivation. HURDAT contains numerous systematic as well as some random errors in the database. Additionally, analysis techniques have changed over the years at NHC as their understanding of tropical cyclones has developed, leading to biases in the historical database. Another difficulty in applying the hurricane database to studies concerned with landfalling events is the lack of exact location, time and intensity at hurricane landfall.

Re-analysis project

HURDAT is regularly updated annually to reflect the previous season's activity. The older portion of the database has been regularly revised since 2001. The first time in 2001 led to the addition of tropical cyclone tracks for the years 1851 to 1885. The second time was August 2002 when Hurricane Andrew was upgraded to a Category 5. Recent efforts into uncovering undocumented historical hurricanes in the late 19th and 20th centuries by various researchers have greatly increased our knowledge of these past events. Possible changes for the years 1951 onward are not yet incorporated into the HURDAT database. Because of all of these issues, a re-analysis of the Atlantic hurricane database is being attempted that will be completed in three years.

In addition to the groundbreaking work by Partagas^[context?], additional analyses, digitization and quality control of the data was carried out by researchers at the NOAA Hurricane Research Division funded by the NOAA Office of Global Programs. This re-analysis will continue to progress through the remainder of the 20th century.^[14]

The National Hurricane Center's Best Track Change Committee has approved changes for a few recent cyclones, such as Hurricane Andrew. Official changes to the Atlantic hurricane database are approved by the National Hurricane Center Best Track Change Committee. Thus research conducted by Chris Landsea and colleagues as part of the Atlantic hurricane database reanalysis project are submitted through this review process. Not all Landsea's recommendations are accepted by the Committee.

1494–1850 (pre-HURDAT era)

Period	Seasons	Individual years
Pre-19th century	Pre-17th century (pre 1600), 17th century (1600s), 18th century (1700s)	1780
1800–1849	1800–1809, 1810–1819, 1820–1829, 1830–1839, 1840–1849	1842

1850–1899 (1851–present HURDAT era)

1850s

Year	Map	Number of tropical storms	Number of hurricanes	Number of major hurricanes	Deaths	Strongest storm	Major landfall hurricanes
1850		3	3	0	Not known	One
1851	250px	6	3	1	24	Four	• Great Middle Florida Hurricane of 1851 (cat 3)
1852	250px	5	5	1	100+	One	• Great Mobile Hurricane of 1852 (cat 3)
1853	250px	8	4	2	40	Three
1854	250px	5	3	1	30+	Three	• Coastal Hurricane of 1854 (cat 3)
1855	250px	5	4	1	Not known	Five	• Middle Gulf Shore Hurricane of 1855 (cat 3)
1856	250px	6	4	2	200+	One	• The Last Island Hurricane of 1856 (cat 4)
1857	250px	4	3	0	424	Two & Four
1858	250px	6	6	0	None	Three & Six
1859	250px	8	7	1	Numerous	Six

1860s

Year	Map	Number of tropical storms	Number of hurricanes	Number of major hurricanes	Deaths	Strongest storm	Major landfall hurricanes
1860	250px	7	6	1	60+	One
1861	250px	2	6	0	22+	One and Three
1862	250px	3	3	0	3	Two and Three
1863	250px	4	5	0	90	One, Two, Three & Four
1864	250px	2	3	0	None	One, Three & Five
1865	250px	4	3	0	326	Four & Seven
1866	250px	7	6	1	383	Six	• Great Bahamas Hurricane of 1866 (cat 4)
1867	250px	2	6	1	811	'San Narciso'	• Hurricane San Narciso of 1867 (cat 3)
1868	250px	1	3	0	2	One, Two & Four
1869	250px	3	6	1	38	Six	• First New England Gale of 1869 (cat 3) • Saxby's New England Gale of 1869 (cat 2)

1870s

Year	Map	Number of tropical storms	Number of hurricanes	Number of major hurricanes	Deaths	Strongest storm	Major landfall hurricanes
1870	250px	11	10	2	2,052	Four	• First Key West Hurricane 1870/Hurricane of San Marcos 1870 (cat 3) • Second Key West Hurricane 1870 (cat 2)
1871	250px	8	6	2	30	Three and Four	• Central Florida Hurricane of 1871 (cat 3) • Hurricane Santa Juana of 1871 (cat 3)
1872	250px	5	4	0	Unknown	Two
1873	250px	5	3	2	626	Five	• Central Florida Hurricane of 1873 (cat 3)
1874	250px	7	4	0	Unknown	Seven
1875	250px	6	5	1	800	Three	• Great Indianola Hurricane of 1875 (cat 3)
1876	250px	5	4	2	19	"San Felipe"	• Hurricane San Felipe of 1876 (cat 3) • Cuba-South Florida Hurricane of 1876 (cat 3)
1877	250px	8	3	1	34	Four
1878	250px	12	10	1	108	Seven	• Gale of 1878 (cat 2)
1879	250px	8	6	2	47	Four	• Great Beaufort Carolina Hurricane of 1879 (cat 3) • Louisiana Hurricane of 1879 (cat 3)

1880s

Year	Map	Number of tropical storms	Number of hurricanes	Number of major hurricanes	Deaths	Strongest storm	Major landfall hurricanes	Notes
1880	250px	11	9	2	133	Eight	• Brownsville Hurricane of 1880 (cat 4)
1881	250px	7	4	0	700	Five and Six	• Georgia Hurricane of 1881 (cat 2)
1882	250px	6	5	2	6	Six	• Pensacola Hurricane of 1882 (cat 3) • Cuba Hurricane of 1882 (cat 4)
1883	250px	4	3	2	236	Two and Three	• Bahamas-North Carolina Hurricane of 1883 (cat 3)
1884	250px	4	4	1	8	Two
1885	250px	8	6	1	25	Two
1886	250px	12	10	4	200+	"Indianola"	• Indianola Hurricane of 1886 (cat 4) • Cuba Hurricane of 1886 (cat 3) • Texas-Louisiana Hurricane of 1886 (cat 3)	Seven hurricanes struck the United States, the most during a single year.^[15] Indianola, Texas struck by two major hurricanes (1875 and 1886) which effectively closed down the town.^[16]^{[better source needed]}
1887	250px	19	11	2	2	Seven		Tied for third most active season on record following very active 1886 season. Has the most storms forming outside the normal hurricane season One of only 4 seasons to have both a preseason and postseason storm
1888	250px	9	6	2	924	Three and Four	• Louisiana Hurricane of 1888 (cat 3) • Hurricane San Gil of 1888 (cat 3)
1889	250px	9	6	0	40	Six

1890s

Year	Map	Number of tropical storms	Number of hurricanes	Number of major hurricanes	Deaths	Strongest storm	Major landfall hurricanes	Notes
1890	250px	4	2	1	9	Three
1891	250px	10	7	1	700+	"Martinique"	• Martinique Hurricane of 1891 (cat 3)
1892	250px	9	5	0	16	Three, Five, and Seven
1893	250px	12	10	5	4,028	"Cheniere Caminada"	• Hurricane San Roque of 1893 (cat 3) • New York Hurricane of 1893 (cat 3) • 1893 Sea Islands Hurricane (cat 3) • Great Charleston Hurricane (cat 3) • 1893 Cheniere Caminada hurricane (cat 4)	5 major hurricanes made landfall this year. Two hurricanes caused more than 2,000 deaths in the United States. Four simultaneous hurricanes on August 22, one of two times on record.
1894	250px	7	5	4	200+	Six	• Florida Pan Handle Hurricane of 1894 (cat 3)
1895	250px	6	2	0	56	Two
1896	250px	7	6	2	130	Four	• Hurricane San Ramon of 1896 (cat 3) • Cedar Keys Hurricane of 1896 (cat 3)
1897	250px	6	3	0	None	One
1898	250px	11	5	1	562	"Georgia"	• Georgia Hurricane of 1898 (cat 4)	Major hurricane last struck Georgia in 1881
1899	250px	9	5	2	3,439	"San Ciriaco"	• Hurricane San Ciriaco of 1899 (cat 4)	The San Ciriaco hurricane was the longest lasting Atlantic hurricane on record

1900s

NOTE: In the following tables, all estimates of damage costs are expressed in contemporaneous US dollars (USD).

1900s

Year	Map	Number of tropical storms	Number of hurricanes	Number of major hurricanes	Deaths	Damage USD	Strongest storm	Major landfall hurricanes	Notes
1900	250px	7	3	2	8,000+	$60 million	"Galveston"	• Great Galveston Hurricane of 1900 (cat 4)	The Galveston hurricane was the deadliest disaster in the United States.
1901	250px	12	5	1	10	$1 million	Seven
1902	250px	5	3	0	None	Unknown	Four
1903	250px	10	7	1	228	$1.15 million	Two	• Jamaica Hurricane of 1903 (cat 3)
1904	250px	5	3	0	87	$1 million	Two
1905	250px	5	1	1	1	Unknown	Four
1906	250px	11	6	3	367	$2.48 million	Four	• Mississippi Hurricane of 1906 (cat 3) • Florida Keys Hurricane of 1906 (cat 3)
1907	250px	5	0	0	None	Unknown	One		One of two seasons with no recorded hurricanes
1908	250px	10	6	1	None	Unknown	Six		Includes the only known March tropical cyclone in the basin
1909	250px	11	6	4	4,614	$75 million	"Grand Isle"	• 1909 Velasco hurricane (cat 3) • 1909 Monterrey hurricane (cat 3) • 1909 Grand Isle hurricane (cat 3) • 1909 Key West Hurricane (cat 3) 1909 Greater Antilles hurricane (cat 2)	3 major hurricanes made landfall this year

1910s

Year	Map	Number of tropical storms	Number of hurricanes	Number of major hurricanes	Deaths	Damage USD	Strongest storm	Major landfall hurricanes	Notes
1910	250px	5	3	1	100	$1.25 million	"Cuba"	• The Great Cuba Hurricane of 1910 (cat 4)
1911	250px	6	3	0	27	$3 million	Three
1912	250px	7	4	1	116	$67,000	Seven	• The Jamaica Hurricane of 1912 (cat 3)
1913	250px	6	4	0	5	$4 million	Four
1914	250px	1	0	0	0	Unknown	One		Least active season on record. One of two seasons with no recorded hurricanes.
1915	250px	6	5	4	675	$63 million	"New Orleans"	• Great Galveston Hurricane of 1915 (cat 4) • New Orleans Hurricanes of 1915 (cat 4)	Two cat 4 hurricanes made landfall in US in same year. Galveston last struck with major hurricane in 1900.
1916	250px	15	10	5	31	$5.9 million	"Texas"	• Gulf Coast Hurricane of 1916 (cat 3) • Charleston Hurricane of 1916 (cat 3) • Great Texas Hurricane of 1916 (cat 4)	3 major hurricanes made landfall this year following a very active 1915 season.
1917	250px	4	2	2	5	$170,000	"Nueva Gerona"	• Nueva Gerona Hurricane of 1917 (cat 4)
1918	250px	6	4	1	34	$5+ million	One	• Louisiana Hurricane of 1918 (cat 3)
1919	250px	5	2	1	~900	$22 million	"Florida Keys"	• Great Florida Keys Hurricane of 1919 (cat 4)

1920s

Year	Map	Number of tropical storms	Number of hurricanes	Number of major hurricanes	Deaths	Damage USD	Strongest storm	Major landfall hurricanes	Notes
1920	250px	5	4	0	2	$15.75 million	One
1921	250px	7	5	2	6	$36.5 million	"Tampa Bay"	• Hurricane San Pedro of 1921 (cat 3) • Great Tampa Bay Hurricane of 1921 (cat 4)
1922	250px	5	3	1	Unknown	Unknown	Two
1923	250px	9	4	1	0	Unknown	Five
1924	250px	11	5	2	150+	Unknown	"Cuba"	• Great Cuba Hurricane of 1924 (cat 5)	The earliest officially classified Category 5 Atlantic hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson Scale
1925	250px	4	2	0	59+	$19.9 million	One
1926	250px	11	8	6	1,315+	$1.4+ billion	"Miami"	• The Nassau Hurricane of 1926 (cat 4) • Nova Scotia Hurricane of 1926 (cat 3) • Louisiana hurricane of 1926 (cat 3) • Great Miami Hurricane of 1926 (cat 4) • Great Havana-Bermuda Hurricane of 1926 (cat 4)	6 major hurricanes this year, 5 major landfalls
1927	250px	8	4	1	184	Unknown	"Nova Scotia"	• Nova Scotia Hurricane of 1927 (cat 3)
1928	250px	6	4	1	4,000+	$952.5+ million	"Okeechobee"	• Great Okeechobee Hurricane of 1928 (cat 5)	The Okeechobee hurricane is the only known hurricane to strike Puerto Rico at Category 5 strength.
1929	250px	5	3	1	51	$9.0 million	"Florida"	• Great Bahamas Hurricane of 1929 (cat 4)

1930s

Year	Map	Number of tropical storms	Number of hurricanes	Number of major hurricanes	Deaths	Damage USD	Strongest storm	Major landfall hurricanes	Notes
1930	250px	3	2	2	8,000	$50 million	"Dominican Republic"	• Dominican Republic Hurricane of 1930 (cat 4)	The fifth deadliest hurricane on record
1931	250px	13	3	1	2,502	$7.5 million	"Belize"	• Belize Hurricane of 1931 (cat 4)
1932		15	6	4	3,315	$37 million	"Cuba"	• Freeport Texas Hurricane of 1932 (cat 4) • Great Bahamas Hurricane of 1932 (cat 5) • Hurricane San Ciprián of 1932 (cat 4) • Great Cuba Hurricane of 1932 (cat 5)	Two Category 5 hurricanes; one in November (the latest such on record); four major hurricanes made landfall
1933		20	11	6	651	$86.6 million	"Tampico"	• Chesapeake–Potomac Hurricane of 1933 (cat 4) • Great Cuba-Brownsville Hurricane of 1933 (cat 5) • Treasure Coast Hurricane of 1933 (cat 4) • Outer Banks Hurricane of 1933 (cat 4) • Tampico Yucatán Hurricane of 1933 (cat 5)	Second most active season on record following very active 1932 season. Two Category 5 hurricanes. Five major hurricanes made landfall
1934	250px	13	7	1	2,017	$4.26 million	Thirteen
1935		8	5	3	2,604	$12.5 million	"Labor Day"	• Great Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 (cat 5) • Cuba Hurricane of 1935 (cat 4)	The Labor Day hurricane is most intense landfalling tropical cyclone in the Atlantic known to date
1936	250px	17	7	1	5	$1.23 million	Thirteen		Very active season with no major landfalling hurricanes
1937	250px	11	4	1	0	Unknown	Six
1938	250px	9	4	2	~700	$290.3 million	"New England"	• Long Island Express Hurricane (cat 5)	Earliest starting season on record (January 3). Long Island express made landfall as a fast moving category 3.
1939	250px	6	3	1	5	Unknown	Five

1940s

Year	Map	Number of tropical storms	Number of hurricanes	Number of major hurricanes	Deaths	Damage USD	Strongest storm	Major landfall hurricanes	Notes
1940	250px	9	6	0	101	$4.7 million	Four
1941	250px	6	4	3	63	$10 million	"Florida"	• Texas Hurricane of 1941 (cat 3) • Nicaraqua Hurricane of 1941 (cat 4) • Florida Hurricane of 1941 (cat 3)	3 major hurricanes made landfall this year
1942	250px	11	4	1	17	$30.6 million	Three	• Matagorda Texas Hurricane of 1942 (cat 3)
1943		10	5	2	19	$17.2 million	Three		First year of Hurricane Hunters
1944		14	8	3	1,153	$202 million	"Great Atlantic"	• Great Atlantic Hurricane of 1944 (cat 4) • Cuba-Florida Hurricane of 1944 (cat 4)	Atlantic hurricane only category 2 at landfall
1945		11	5	2	80	$80 million	"Southeast Florida"	• Texas Hurricane of 1945 (cat 3) • Homestead Florida Hurricane of 1945 (cat 4)
1946	250px	7	3	0	5	$5.2 million	Four
1947	250px	10	5	2	94	$145.3 million	"Fort Lauderdale"	• Fort Lauderdale Hurricane of 1947 [George] (cat 4) • Cape Sable Hurricane of 1947 [King] (cat 2)	First year of Atlantic tropical cyclone naming.^[17]
1948	250px	10	6	4	94	$30.9 million	"Florida"	• Florida Hurricane of 1948 [Easy] (cat 4) • Miami Hurricane of 1948 [Fox] (cat 3)
1949	250px	16	7	3	3	$58.2 million	"Florida"	• Florida Hurricane of 1949 (cat 4) • Texas Hurricane of 1949 (cat 2)

1950s

Year	Map	Number of tropical storms	Number of hurricanes	Number of major hurricanes	Deaths	Damage USD	Strongest storm	Retired names	Notes
1950		16	11	6	20	$37 million	Dog	None	Record 8 tropical storms in October
1951	250px	12	8	3	257	$80 million	Easy	None
1952	250px	11	5	2	607	$3.75 million	Fox	None	Includes the only known February tropical cyclone in the basin
1953	250px	14	7	3	1	$6 million	Carol	None	First year of female names for storms. One of only 4 seasons to have both a preseason and postseason storm.
1954		16	7	3	1,069	$752 million	Hazel	Carol, Edna, Hazel	Includes Alice, one of only two storms in the basin to span two calendar years, tying for the latest storm in a season
1955	250px	13	9	4	1,518	$1.2 billion	Janet	Connie, Diane, Ione, Janet
1956	250px	12	4	1	76	$67.8 million	Betsy	None
1957	250px	8	3	2	513	$152.5 million	Carrie	Audrey
1958	250px	12	7	3	41	$12 million	Helene	None
1959		14	7	2	59	$23.3 million	Gracie	Gracie?	Status of Gracie's retirement is unclear

1960s

Year	Map	Number of tropical storms	Number of hurricanes	Number of major hurricanes	Deaths	Damage USD	Strongest storm	Retired names	Notes
1960		8	4	2	385	$410 million	Donna	Donna	Current extent of the reanalysis project as of July 2016
1961		11	8	7	345	$392 million	Hattie	Carla, Hattie	Two Category 5 Hurricanes Tied for most major hurricanes
1962	250px	5	3	1	4	$10 million	Ella	None
1963		9	7	2	7,225	$589 million	Flora	Flora	The sixth deadliest hurricane on record
1964		12	6	6	261	$605 million	Hilda	Cleo, Dora, Hilda
1965		6	4	1	76	$1.45 billion	Betsy	Betsy
1966	250px	11	7	3	1,094	$410 million	Inez	Inez	One named storm de-classified in post-analysis
1967		8	6	1	64	$217 million	Beulah	Beulah
1968	250px	8	4	0	10	$10 million	Gladys	None	The name "Edna" was retired due to the storm in 1954,; also includes one subtropical storm. No major hurricanes.
1969	250px	18	12	5	364	$1.7 billion	Camille	Camille	Fourth most active season on record. Tied for second most hurricanes in a season on record. Includes one subtropical storm.

1970s

Year	Map	Number of tropical storms	Number of hurricanes	Number of major hurricanes	Deaths	Damage USD	Strongest storm	Retired names	Notes
1970		10	5	2	71	$454 million	Celia	Celia	First season of a 24-year period of decreased activity in the Atlantic (-AMO)
1971	250px	13	6	1	45	$213 million	Edith	None	Includes first documented Hurricane to cross Central America, Irene
1972	250px	7	3	0	122	$2.1 billion	Betty	Agnes	Includes three subtropical storms No major hurricanes
1973		8	4	1	15	$18 million	Ellen	None	Includes one subtropical storm
1974		11	4	2	8,260+	$1.97 billion	Carmen	Carmen, Fifi	Includes four subtropical storms Fifi was the fourth deadliest hurricane on record
1975		9	6	3	80	$100 million	Gladys	Eloise	Includes one subtropical storm
1976	250px	10	6	2	72	$100 million	Belle	None	Includes two subtropical storms
1977	250px	6	5	1	10	$10 million	Anita	Anita
1978		12	5	2	37	$45 million	Greta	Greta	Includes the January subtropical storm in the Atlantic
1979	250px	9	5	2	2,118	$4.3 billion	David	David, Frederic	First year for alternating male/female names. Includes one subtropical storm.

1980s

Year	Map	Number of tropical cyclones	Number of tropical storms	Number of hurricanes	Number of major hurricanes	Deaths	Damage USD	Strongest storm	Retired names	Notes
1980		15	11	9	2	256	$1 billion	Allen	Allen	Includes the storm with the highest sustained winds attained so far in the Atlantic
1981	250px	18	12	7	3	10	$45 million	Harvey	None
1982	250px	9	6	2	1	141	$100 million	Debby	None	Includes one subtropical storm
1983		7	4	3	1	22	$2.6 billion	Alicia	Alicia	Least active hurricane season in the satellite era
1984		17	13	5	1	35	$66 million	Diana	None	Includes one subtropical storm
1985		13	11	7	3	241	$4.5 billion	Gloria	Elena, Gloria	Hurricane Kate struck Florida on November 21, the latest United States hurricane landfall
1986	250px	10	6	4	0	70	$57 million	Earl	None	No major hurricanes
1987	250px	14	7	3	1	10	$90 million	Emily	None
1988		19	12	5	3	550	$7 billion	Gilbert	Gilbert, Joan	Included strongest hurricane on record until 2005; first hurricane since 1978 to cross Central America
1989		15	11	7	2	112	$10.7 billion	Hugo	Hugo

1990s

Year	Map	Number of tropical cyclones	Number of tropical storms	Number of hurricanes	Number of major hurricanes	Deaths	Damage USD	Strongest storm	Retired names	Notes
1990		16	14	8	1	116	$150 million	Gustav	Diana, Klaus	No tropical storms or hurricanes made landfall in the United States
1991	250px	12	8	4	2	30	$2.5 billion	Claudette	Bob
1992	250px	9	7	4	1	66	$27 billion	Andrew	Andrew	Hurricane Andrew was the costliest U.S. hurricane until 2005. Includes one subtropical storm.
1993	250px	10	8	4	1	274	$271 million	Emily	None
1994	250px	12	7	3	0	1,184	$1.56 billion	Florence	None	No major hurricanes
1995		21	19	11	5	115	$9.3 billion	Opal	Luis, Marilyn, Opal, Roxanne	Tied for third most active season on record First season of an ongoing period of increased activity in the Atlantic (+AMO)
1996	250px	13	13	9	6	179	$3.8 billion	Edouard	Cesar, Fran, Hortense	Cesar was renamed Douglas after it crossed Central America. Most amount of major hurricanes at the time
1997	250px	9	8	3	1	11	$110 million	Erika	None	Includes one subtropical storm
1998		14	14	10	3	12,000+	$12.2 billion	Mitch	Georges, Mitch	Four simultaneous hurricanes on September 26, the first time since 1893. Hurricane Mitch was the deadliest hurricane in over 200 years.
1999	250px	16	12	8	5	465	$5.9 billion	Floyd	Floyd, Lenny	Most Category 4 hurricanes on record

2000s

NOTE: In the following tables, all estimates of damage costs are expressed in contemporaneous US dollars (USD).

2000s

Year	Map	Number of tropical cyclones	Number of tropical storms	Number of hurricanes	Number of major hurricanes	Deaths	Damage USD	Strongest storm	Retired names	Notes
2000		19	15	8	3	79	$1.2 billion	Keith	Keith	Includes one subtropical storm
2001	250px	17	15	9	4	105	$7.1 billion	Michelle	Allison, Iris, Michelle
2002		14	12	4	2	53	$2.6 billion	Isidore	Isidore, Lili	Record-tying 8 named storms formed in September
2003		21	16	7	3	92	$4.4 billion	Isabel	Fabian, Isabel, Juan	3 off-season storms
2004		17	15	9	6	3,100+	$60.1 billion	Ivan	Charley, Frances, Ivan, Jeanne	Includes one subtropical storm Record-tying 8 named storms forming in August
2005		31	28	15	7	2,280+	$180.4 billion	Wilma	Dennis, Katrina, Rita, Stan, Wilma	Second costliest hurricane season on record Season holds most activity records, including cyclones, storms, hurricanes, major hurricanes and Category 5's (4) Most retired names Only year to use the Greek alphabet Includes 1 subtropical storm and 1 subtropical depression
2006		10	10	5	2	14	$500 million	Gordon and Helene	None
2007		17	15	6	2	423	$3 billion	Dean	Dean, Felix, Noel	Includes one subtropical storm Two Category 5 Hurricanes that made landfall
2008		17	16	8	5	1,047	$47.5 billion	Ike	Gustav, Ike, Paloma	Tied for fifth most active season on record Only year on record in which a major hurricane existed in every month from July through November
2009	250px	11	9	3	2	6	$77 million	Bill	None

2010s

Year	Map	Number of tropical cyclones	Number of tropical storms	Number of hurricanes	Number of major hurricanes	Deaths	Damage USD	Strongest storm	Retired names	Notes
2010	250px	21	19	12	5	314	$4.53 billion	Igor	Igor, Tomas	Tied for third most active season on record Tied for second most hurricanes in a season on record Record tying 8 named storms forming in September
2011	250px	20	19	7	4	114	$18.59 billion	Ophelia	Irene	Tied for third most active season on record
2012		19	19	10	2	354	$77.97 billion	Sandy	Sandy	Tied for third most active season Tied (with 2016) for most active season before July Record tying 8 named storms forming in August
2013		15	14	2	0	47	$1.51 billion	Humberto	Ingrid	Includes one subtropical storm No major hurricanes Tied (with 1982) for fewest hurricanes since 1930
2014	250px	9	8	6	2	21	$439.2 million	Gonzalo	None
2015	250px	12	11	4	2	89	$731.8 million	Joaquin	Erika, Joaquin
2016	250px	16	15	7	4	748	≥ $16.1 billion	Matthew	Matthew, Otto	Earliest start since 1938 Record for earliest formation of 3rd and 4th storm Tied (with 2012) for most active season before July Includes southernmost Category 5 on record, and the first since 2007 First hurricane in 20 years to cross Central America into the Eastern Pacific basin
2017		18	17	10	6	3,361	≥ $282.16 billion	Maria	Harvey, Irma, Maria, Nate	Costliest hurricane season on record First April system since 2003 Earliest Main Development Region named storm on record First U.S. major hurricane landfall since Wilma in 2005 Highest rainfall produced by a tropical cyclone in the United States and its territories First-ever three Category 4 U.S. hurricane landfalls in a single season Second season to feature multiple Category 5 landfalls after 2007 Only one of four seasons to produce ten hurricanes in a row Only season on record with three hurricanes with an ACE value over 40 Most ACE produced in a single month in Atlantic basin
2018		9	9	4	1	18	>125 million	Florence	TBD	Includes one subtropical storm Fourth consecutive season for a storm to develop before the official start

Number of tropical storms and hurricanes per season

This bar chart shows the number of named storms and hurricanes per year from 1851–2018.

A 2011 study analyzing one of the main sources of hurricanes - the African easterly wave (AEW) - found that the change in AEWs is closely linked to increased activity of intense hurricanes in the North Atlantic. The synoptic concurrence of AEWs in driving the dynamics of the Sahel greening also appears to increase tropical cyclogenesis over the North Atlantic.^[18]

References

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↑ Brownsville Herald (June 1, 1965). Hurricane Season Officially Opened.
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↑ United States Department of Commerce (2006). Assessment: Hurricane Katrina, August 23–31, 2005. Retrieved on 2008-09-03.
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↑ Indianola, Texas
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[10] Brownsville Herald (June 1, 1965). Hurricane Season Officially Opened.

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[13] United States Department of Commerce (2006). Assessment: Hurricane Katrina, August 23–31, 2005. Retrieved on 2008-09-03.

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[16] Indianola, Texas

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Atlantic hurricane season

Contents

Concept

Operations

HURDAT

Re-analysis project

1494–1850 (pre-HURDAT era)

1850–1899 (1851–present HURDAT era)

1850s

1860s

1870s

1880s

1890s

1900s

1900s

1910s

1920s

1930s

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2000s

2010s

Number of tropical storms and hurricanes per season

See also

Parent topics

Atlantic hurricane topics

Other tropical cyclone basins

References

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