Book of the Year: All 21 named storms from the busy 2021 Atlantic hurricane season are seen in a composite image from NOAA’s GOES East satellite.
NOAA
hide captions
switch captions
NOAA
The 2021 Atlantic hurricane season has officially ended, ending the period when 8 hurricanes made landfall on the US coast. With 21 named storms, 2021 ranks as the third most active year on record, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Here are a few things that set the 2021 season apart:
Hurricanes cause death and expensive damage
While repair and recovery efforts are underway, the 2021 season in the Atlantic will likely go down as one of the most expensive in history. Hurricane Ida alone caused more than $60 billion in damage – making it one of the five most damaging US hurricanes on record since 1980, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Ida made landfall in Louisiana as a Category 4 hurricane with dangerous high tides and strong winds, and it remained dangerous and destructive for about 1,000 miles, as it brought catastrophic flooding to the mid-Atlantic .
Ida is blamed for 26 dead in Louisiana, and at least 50 people died in the Northeast.
Four hurricanes – Tropical Storm Elsa in July, Tropical Storm Fred in August, Hurricane Nicholas in September, and Hurricane Ida in August and September – each caused more than $1 billion in costs, NOAA said. .
We ran out of names again
Due to the above-average number of named storms, 2021 will be the second year in a row that meteorologists have run out of names for the following storms. Wanda is known as in early November.
This is the first time forecasters use World Meteorological Organization original list of names for two consecutive years.
The NHC says there are an average of 14 named storms a year. Prior to Year 2020, the only time other time forecasters ran out of names was in 2005.
YouTube
2021 season starts soon
According to the NHC, the 2021 season continues the trend of unusual storms, as it has become “the seventh consecutive year that a named storm formed before the official start of the season on January 1. June”, according to NHC.
The first was Tropical Cyclone Ana, which formed north of Bermuda on May 23.
The final two months of the season have been relatively quiet, after nine newly named storms formed in September: Larry, Mindy, Nicholas, Odette, Peter, Rose, Sam, Teresa and Victor.
Climate change is part of the driving force
“Climate factors, including La NiñaMatthew Rosencrans, seasonal storm forecasting team leader at NOAA’s Center for Climate Prediction, said that higher-than-normal sea surface temperatures at the start of the season and above-average West African monsoon rainfall were key factors. major contributor to this above-average hurricane season.
In August, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued evaluation report said they are confident “that the global incidence of very intense (category 4-5) tropical cyclones, along with their peak winds and precipitation rates, is expected to increase along with global warming,” the NHC said.
Only two years have been recorded as busier
The busy 2021 season is eclipsed by only 27 named storms (and one unnamed) recorded in 2005 and 30 named storms in 2020.
