ATLANTA — Hurricane season is over - and despite few storms making landfall, it has been deemed as a very active season.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the 2023 Atlantic Hurricane Season was ruled as a very active season with the 4th highest number of named storms on record.
While only 19 names were actually used from the list from Arlene through Tammy, NOAA is also taking into account a storm that was designated as an 'Unnamed Storm.' The unnamed sub-tropical storm formed in the north Atlantic in mid-January.
This amount of storm activity was higher than an average season and was in line with the forecast put out mid-season by NOAA. We ended up having 20 named storms with 7 becoming hurricanes and 3 becoming major hurricanes.
A majority of these storms did not make landfall in the United States with many staying out over open water, but three did end up having a direct impact.
The strongest of the storms making landfall in the United States was Hurricane Idalia. The storm made landfall along the big bend of Florida on Aug. 30 as a Category 3 storm, or major hurricane. Idalia weakened from its max intensity of a Category 4 just hours before landfall, but still managed to bring strong wind inland and causing decent storm surge along the gulf coast of Florida. Idalia was also responsible for damage and widespread power outages from Florida into southern Georgia.
The other two storms that made landfall in the United States this year were Tropical Storm Ophelia, which made landfall near Emerald Isle, North Carolina on Sept. 23 and Tropical Storm Harold, which made landfall along Padre Island, Texas on Aug. 22.
Tropical storms Arlene, Bret and Cindy all formed in May and June. We then had Hurricane Don form in July, but there was a decent stretch from mid July through mid-August with little to no activity.
We then had a big increase in activity across the Atlantic with 14 storms earning a name from Aug. 15 through Oct. 15. During that time we also had the strongest storm of the season, which was Hurricane Lee. The storm was a Category 5 at its strongest while it spun just northeast of the Lesser Antilles.
This increased amount of activity we had from mid-August to mid-October is also considered our climatological peak of the Atlantic Hurricane Season.
The season comes to a close Nov. 30 and as of Thursday afternoon there is no chance for tropical development in the Atlantic Basin over the next seven days.
