‘Extremely active’ – that was the expectation heading into the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season, and boy, oh boy, did that come to fruition. Records have fallen left and right this year, headlined by the following:

• Most named storms in a single season – 30
• Most U.S. named storm landfalls – 12

Remarkably, every single mile of U.S. Atlantic coastline was under a tropical watch/warning (tropical storm, hurricane, storm surge) at some point this year.

It was an especially rough season for the northern Gulf coast. A whopping eight named storms made landfall from the Texas coast to the AL/FL border! Louisiana was hit particularly hard, with five of those eight storms hitting the state – including three hurricanes. Hurricane Laura was by the far worst, making landfall in SW Louisiana as a Category 4, causing tremendous damage in southwest Louisiana. A wind gust of 133 mph was recorded in Lake Charles.

The back end of the hurricane was especially active. Four major hurricanes (Category 3+) formed this October/November: Delta, Epsilon, Eta and Iota. No other Atlantic hurricane season on record has had more than 2 major hurricane formations during the final two months of the season. Iota actually became the latest calendar year Category 5 hurricane on record as max sustained winds reached 160 mph on November 16.

So, the end of the season is officially here. While 97% of tropical activity occurs within the confines of hurricane season (June 1 – November 30). Storms do, and have formed at other times of the year. Rest assured though, it is incredibly rare to have a storm threaten the United States outside of the hurricane season.

Thank you for relying on all of us here at MyFoxHurricane.com throughout the year!

Tropical Storm Iota – the 30th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season – has formed in the Caribbean Sea Friday afternoon. This has formed in nearly the same spot as Tropical Storm Eta. Eta went on to make landfall as a category 4 hurricane in Central America, leading to devastating flooding across Nicaragua and Honduras. Unfortunately, it may be a similar outcome with Iota, leading to additional life-threatening flooding.

The ingredients are in place for steady strengthening of this storm as it moves toward Central America through the weekend. Deep tropical moisture, light wind shear, and very warm water should allow this to become the thirteenth hurricane of the season (only 2005 had more – 15). It’s possible that it reaches major hurricane status prior to landfall. For interests in Central America, this bears close watching.