The 2024 hurricane season officially ended on November 30, capping six months of above-average hurricane activity in the Atlantic Basin. The season had it all: extremely warm ocean water that provided a breeding ground for hurricanes, flooding as far away as northern Appalachia, and tornadoes in the Everglades.
At the beginning of the year, some the scientists hypothesized that the Saffir-Simpson scale for hurricane intensity should be revised to reflect the intensity of future hurricanes. Given the notable storms of 2024, including a hurricane with 180 miles per hour (290 kilometers per hour) – you can see where they are coming from. Let’s revisit some of the record-breaking moments of this hurricane season and see how it lined up with meteorologists’ predictions.
Meteorologists have warned of a record-breaking hurricane season
Unlike the 2023 hurricane seasonthis year’s weather it was expected be stormier than normal. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration expected between 17 and 25 named storms, while Colorado State University’s seasonal hurricane forecast called for 23 named storms. Both institutions’ numbers increased from the 1991-2020 average: 14.4 named storms per year, 7.2 hurricanes per year and 3.2 major hurricanes per year.
Predictions are not always correct; Despite average expectations, 2023 ended with the fourth most named storm in a season, at 8 p.m., while the Atlantic basin I only had 18 named storms this year. This means there were not enough Atlantic tropical cyclones to run through the entire list of predetermined names: the last named storm, Sara, ran out on November 18 after causing serious flooding in Central America. But don’t let the lower total number of named storms in 2024 reduce the severity and lasting impacts of the weather.
The first Category 5 storm in recorded history
Hurricane Beryl was the second storm of the season to be named first category 5 hurricane of the year. Beryl was classified as a Category 5 storm, classified as a storm with sustained wind speeds greater than 157 miles per hour (252 kilometers per hour), on July 2, just three days into hurricane season. This made Beryl the first Category 5 ever recorded; the silver medal goes to Hurricane Emily, which reached Category 5 status on July 17, 2005. Beryl hit Texas as a Category 1 storm, but don’t let the reduced wind speed fool you: the storm caused Significant flooding throughout Texas and Louisiana.
“The impactful and deadly 2024 hurricane season started out intense, then relaxed a bit before roaring back,” said Matthew Rosencrans, the chief hurricane meteorologist at NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center, in a ‘administration publication. “Several possible factors contributed to the pause in peak season in the Atlantic region. Particularly intense winds and rainfall over West Africa have created a less hospitable environment for storm development.”
Hurricane Helene: Appalachian flooding, mortality and atmospheric shock waves
Two months ago, Florida was hit by consecutive hurricanes in the span of two weeks. The first of the two was Hurricane Helene, which made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend as a Category 4 storm with wind speeds exceeding 140 miles per hour (225 kilometers per hour). Over the course of about 18 hours, Helene made its way from Florida to Tennessee, causing storms on the coast and tornadoes and flooding inland. Dramatic satellite images of Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and the Carolinas revealed the extent of the storm’s fury, from power outages to sediment kicked up from the sea floor of the Gulf of Mexico.
The images on the ground conveyed the pain caused by Helene, including destroyed homes and flooded urban centers. But satellite images revealed the scale of the devastation, which stretched across the southeastern United States. NOAA data revealed last month that Helene’s reach extended into the upper atmosphere, where the hurricane made landfall generated shock waves (also called gravitational waves) in the mesosphere.
According to the NOAA release, preliminary data suggests that Hurricane Helene is the deadliest hurricane in the continental United States after Hurricane Katrina. Helene directly caused more than 150 deaths, most of them in the Carolinas.
The astonishing intensification of Hurricane Milton
Hurricane Milton has intensified from a Category 1 system to a Category 5 storm in about seven hours, a staggering pace. Milton’s rapid intensification has been attributed to several factors, but chief among them was the warm ocean temperature. Atlantic and Gulf hurricanes tend to form when ocean surface temperatures are 82 degrees Fahrenheit (27.8 degrees Celsius) or higher; in early October, Milton was fed by surface temperatures above 85 degrees F.
The storm killed up to 25 people. According to the Palm Beach PostMilton’s fierce winds tore apart the dome of Tropicana Field, the current home of the Tampa Bay Rays, causing a crane collapse in the center of St. Petersburg, e approximately 3.4 million people lost power due to the storm.
Hurricane Milton also produced A amount of twisters—violently rotating columns of air extending from thunderstorms to the ground. Tornadoes are fairly common on the fringes of hurricanes, but according to one expert, Milton’s timing and direction created “near perfect” conditions for tornadoes to form. Milton spawned at least three dozen tornadoes across the Sunshine State Before has landed. When Milton finally arrived on land, he poured out months’ worth of rain on the state in a single day NOAA’s new lightning satellite captured the intensity of the storm from orbit.
The season petered out after multimillion-dollar successes
The total cost of damage and economic losses from the 2024 hurricane season could exceed $500 billion, according to AccuWeather. The company determined that Hurricane Helene was the costliest storm of the year, with total damages ranging between $225 billion and $250 billion.
The 2024 season ultimately produced 18 named storms, eleven of which were hurricanes and five of which became major hurricanes (storms with sustained winds of more than 111 mph, or 179 km/h). The most storms on record (seven) have formed in the Atlantic since Sept. 25, another indicator that the season has been even more active than usual, even if it hasn’t had as many named storms as last year.
Hurricane season won’t return until late June, but keep an eye on the forecast early next year. They will give an early idea of how the 2025 season will develop.
