A record-breaking hurricane season came to a close on Nov. 30.
After the very active tropical season, those living along the east coast and the gulf coast are breathing a sigh of relief.
The Atlantic Hurricane Season officially lasts from June 1 to Nov. 30, however, storms can develop outside of that time frame. This year's season actually began in May with the development of both Tropical Storm Arthur and Tropical Storm Bertha.
Looking back at the season, there were 30 named storms, 13 of those became hurricanes, and six of those were major hurricanes (category 3, 4, or 5). Thirty named storms is a new season record, breaking the previous record of 28 named storms in the 2005 season.
In total, 12 of the 30 named storms made landfall along the U.S. coastline. Louisiana was hit especially hard this year with five named storms making landfall along the Louisiana coast.
One storm early this season made it all the way to Wisconsin, a rare event, bringing wind and rain in early June.
Many meteorologists, and coastal residents, got a lesson on the Greek alphabet this year.
There are 21 names on the Atlantic Tropical Cyclone name list each year. These are alphabetical, and every other name is male or female. If any season uses all 21 names on the list, then storms are named using the Greek alphabet. This year, nine letters of the Greek alphabet were used!
This was only the second season in history to transition into the Greek alphabet (2005 was the last time this happened).
According to NOAA, this is the fifth year in a row with an above-average season. "Average" would be considered 12 named storms, six hurricanes, and three major hurricanes.
"This increased hurricane activity is attributed to the warm phase of the Atlantic Multi-Decadal Oscillation (AMO) which began in 1995 and has favored more, stronger, and longer-lasting storms since that time. Such active eras for Atlantic hurricanes have historically lasted about 25 to 40 years," NOAA stated in a Nov. 24 release.
Read the full release from NOAA here.
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