’19 Hurricane Season: Dodging A Bullet

The six-month 2019 North American hurricane season is officially in the books, and it was an active one in terms of named storm counts, with the majority of activity coming in the typical mid-August and mid-October periods.

The season ended with 18 named storms, six of which became hurricanes, and three of those achieving major hurricane status (Category 3+ on the Saffir-Simpson scale).

Having 18 named storms in a season is well above the 12.1 average (1981 — 2010), but the number of hurricanes and major hurricanes is right around what would be expected in an average year.

In terms of ACE (Accumulated Cyclone Energy), the season ended up at 123% of the average, with two storms, Dorian and Lorenzo, contributing an impressive 61% to the tally.

What is, perhaps, even more interesting is that, of the 18 named storms, eight of them lasted two days or less, and some didn’t even last 24 hours. Two storms (Olga and Imelda) ended up being named storms for only six hours.