Extremely Active Hurricane Season Comes to an End

Photo: Master0Garfield - Created using WikiProject Tropical cyclones/Tracks. The background image is from NASA.

The Atlantic Hurricane Season this year has truly been a year like no other. Yesterday marked the official end of the season.

This season has been the most active Atlantic hurricane season on record.

In total, there were 31 tropical and subtropical depressions, 30 named storms, 13 hurricanes, and 6 major hurricanes. Of the 30 named storms, 12 made landfall in the contiguous United States, breaking the record of nine set in 1916.

It is the second season to use the Greek letter storm naming system, the first being 2005.

The season was also the fifth consecutive season in which at least one Category 5 hurricane formed.

During the season, 27 tropical storms have broken the record for the earliest formation by storm number.

This unprecedented activity has been fueled by an ongoing La Niña.

Tropical Storm Arthur formed on May 16. We ran out of the regular list of names when Tropical Storm Wilfred formed on September 18. We made it to the ninth letter of the Greek alphabet when Iota formed on November 13.

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All total storms this year killed 436 people. The deadliest being Laura, Eta, and Iota.

Three of the storms this year entered Canadian territory.

Tropical Storm Fay's remnants were drawn into the circulation of an approaching extratropical storm, before being fully absorbed into the approaching system over Quebec on July 12.

On the morning of August 4, Environment Canada's Hurricane Centre estimated that Isaias, as a post-tropical storm, would pass through Montérégie and the Cantons de l'Est in the evening and reach the Quebec region on Wednesday morning. 30-50 millimetres of rain were expected.

Finally was Hurricane Teddy. Tropical storm watches were issued as the storm approached Nova Scotia; these were later upgraded to warnings. Municipal sports fields, all-weather fields, tracks and baseball diamonds were closed on September 23 and all bookings were cancelled. School was also cancelled for many regions around the province.

Teddy produced moderate to heavy rainfall in Nova Scotia, peaking at 131 millimetres in Ingonish. In addition, a peak wind gust of 132 kilometres per hour was reported in Grand Étang. In Bedford, the Sackville River overtopped its banks, flooding a nearby park. Around 20,000 customers lost power across the province, but impacts in Nova Scotia were less than originally predicted.

The Atlantic Hurricane Season runs from June 1 to November 30.