The unbelievable Hurricane Season of 2005
It is finally December, and hurricane season is officially over. But this is the Hurricane Season of 2005. The normal rules do not apply. True to its character all year, the Hurricane Season of 2005 continues to defy the normal rules. Tropical Storm Epsilon is still out there in the mid-Atlantic, and is expected to be with us another two days before increasing winds shear and cold waters weaken it and convert it to a regular extra-tropical low. The Azores Islands need to be concerned about this storm, but Epsilon is not a threat to any other land areas. Perhaps the last casualty has been inflicted, the last damage done by the Hurricane Season of 2005.
How can one summarize this unbelievable hurricane season? I strongly believe that this was a once-in-a-lifetime hurricane season. To have 26 named storms, 13 hurricanes, and three of the six strongest hurricanes of all time in one year so greatly exceeds our meteorological understanding of what is possible, that I believe that was a once in 500 years kind of season. Let us consider some of the major records that were broken in 2005:
Seasonal records set in 2005
- Most tropical storms: 27. Old record: 21 in 1933.
- Most hurricanes: 14. Old record: 12 in 1969.
- Most Category 5 hurricanes: 3 (Katrina, Rita, Wilma. Emily may be classified as a Category 5 upon re-analysis.) Old record: 2 in 1960 and 1961.
- Most hurricane names to be retired: 6 (Dennis, Emily, Katrina, Rita, Stan, Wilma, and possibly others). Previous record: 4 in 1955, 1995, and 2004.
- Most major hurricanes: 7 (Dennis, Emily, Katrina, Maria, Rita, Wilma, Beta). Ties record of 7 set in 1950.
- Most major hurricanes to hit the U.S.: 4 (Dennis, Katrina, Rita, Wilma). Previous record: 3 in 1893, 1909, 1933, and 1954.
- Most damage ever recorded in a hurricane season: $150 billion. Previous record: approximately $50 billion dollars (normalized to 2005 dollars) set in 1992 and 2004.
-Highest Accumulated Cyclone Energy (ACE) index: 245. Previous record: 243 (1950). Average for a season is 93.
-Latest end to a hurricane season: January 6 Previous record: January 5, for the 1954-55 hurricane season.
Notable near records for the season
- Second highest number of tropical storms to hit U.S.: 7 (The record was 8 in 1916 and 2004). Note that Hurricane Ophelia is not considered a U.S. strike, although it did bring hurricane conditions to the North Carolina coast.
- Second highest number of hurricanes to kill 1000+ people: 2 (Katrina and Stan). All time record: 3 (1780).
- Second highest number of named storm days: 126.5. All time record: 136 (1933).
Single storm records:
- Strongest Atlantic hurricane ever: Wilma, 882 mb central pressure. Old record: Hurricane Gilbert (1988), 888 mb.
- Fastest intensification ever by an Atlantic hurricane: Wilma. Wilma's pressure dropped from 982 millibars to 882 millibars in 24 hours on Oct 19, a rate of 4.2 millibars an hour. Previous record: Gilbert (1988) dropped 3 mb/hour over 24 hours. Wilma's pressure fell 9.7 mb/hour over six hours early on Oct. 19, beating Hurricane Beulah's drop of 6.3 mb/hour in six hours in 1967.
- Most damaging hurricane ever: Katrina, $100 billion plus. Old record: Hurricane Andrew (1992), $50 billion in 2005 dollars.
- Greatest storm surge from an Atlantic hurricane: Katrina, 28-30 feet. Old record: Hurricane Camille (1969), 24.6 feet.
- Dennis became the most intense hurricane on record before August when a central pressure of 930 mb was recorded.
- Emily eclipsed the record previously set by Dennis for lowest pressure recorded for a hurricane before August when its central pressure reached 929 mb.
- Vince was the furthest north and east that a storm has ever developed in the Atlantic basin.
- Vince was the first tropical cyclone in recorded history to strike the Iberian Peninsula.
- Delta was the first tropical cyclone in recorded history to strike the Canary Islands.
Monthly records
June
- Two named storms formed (Arlene and Bret). Only 1957, 1959, 1968, and 1986 had two or more named storms form during the month of June.
July
- Five named storms formed (Cindy, Dennis, Emily, Franklin, and Gert). This is the most on record for July.
- Two major hurricanes formed (Dennis and Emily). This is the most on record.
- 25.25 named storm days occurred. This is the most on record.
- 10.75 hurricane days occurred. This is the most on record.
- 5.75 intense hurricane days occurred. This is the most on record.
August
- Five named storms formed (Harvey, Irene, Jose, Katrina and Lee). Only 1990, 1995 and 2004 had more than five named storms form during the month of August.
September
- Five hurricanes formed (Maria, Nate, Ophelia, Philippe and Rita). This ties 1955, 1969, 1981, 1998 and 2000 for the most hurricanes to form during the month of September.
October
- Six named storms formed (Stan, Tammy, Vince, Wilma, Alpha and Beta). This ties 1950 for the most named storm formations during the month of October.
- Four hurricanes formed (Stan, Vince, Wilma and Beta). Only 1950 had more hurricanes develop during the month of October.
- Two major hurricanes formed (Wilma and Beta). This ties 1950, 1961, 1964 and 1995 for the most intense hurricanes to form during the month of October.
- Five intense hurricane days occurred. Only 1954 and 1961 recorded more intense hurricane days.
November
- Three tropical storms formed in November (Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon). This breaks the record of two storms set in six years, most recently in 2001.
December
- Epsilon was a hurricane for 5.25 days, making it the longest lived December hurricane on record. The previous record was just over four days, set by an unnamed 1887 hurricane.
January
- Tropical Storm Zeta was the longest-lived January storm on record (six days). January 2006 had the greatest number of named storm days ever recorded in January (six).
Earliest Storm Formation records
- Earliest formation of a season's 4th Storm
- Earliest formation of a season's 5th Storm
- Earliest formation of a season's 6th Storm
- Earliest formation of a season's 7th Storm
- Earliest formation of a season's 8th Storm
- Earliest formation of a season's 9th Storm
- Earliest formation of a season's 10th Storm
- Earliest formation of a season's 11th Storm
- Earliest formation of a season's 13th Storm
- Earliest formation of a season's 14th Storm
- Earliest formation of a season's 15th Storm
- Earliest formation of a season's 16th Storm
- Earliest formation of a season's 17th Storm
- Earliest formation of a season's 19th Storm
- Earliest formation of a season's 20th Storm
- Earliest formation of a season's 21st Storm
- Earliest formation of a season's 22nd Storm
- Earliest formation of a season's 23rd Storm
- Earliest formation of a season's 24th Storm
- Earliest formation of a season's 25th Storm
- Earliest formation of a season's 26th Storm
I credit Dr. Bill Gray's Hurricane Season of 2005 Verification posted on his web site for compiling many of these records, along with wunderblogger Cory Pesaturo. You will find many more records listed on their web pages.
Jeff Masters
Reader Comments
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Dr Jeff Masters I want to thank you for all the information that you posted I learned a lot hope to see you guys next year too
Colby, loved your survey, took it this morning; hope it is not too late. I really hope this season is over but I think we will see some more storms during the "off season"; if not Dec then early next Spring. It has happened before and now we are in the "cycle" I am sure it will happen to us again. Sure hope I am wrong.
Gamma
The strongest hurricane based on max sustained winds was Hurricane Camile in 1969 with max winds of 190 mph while Katrina, Rita and Wilma all reached a max wind of 175 mph.
http://www.wunderground.com/hurricane/at196903.asp
000
WTNT44 KNHC 021414
TCDAT4
HURRICANE EPSILON DISCUSSION NUMBER 13
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL
10 AM EST FRI DEC 02 2005
DESPITE MOVING OVER SLIGHTLY COOLER WATER SINCE THIS TIME YESTERDAY
...EPSILON HAS CONTINUED TO BECOME BETTER ORGANIZED WITH A SOLID
CONVECTIVE BAND NOW WRAPPING COMPLETELY AROUND THE CYCLONE CENTER
...WHICH HAS PRODUCED A WELL-DEFINED 25 NMI DIAMETER EYE. THE
UPPER-LEVEL OUTFLOW PATTERN HAS ALSO CONTINUED TO IMPROVE...
ESPECIALLY TO THE NORTH AND EAST. DVORAK SATELLITE INTENSITY
ESTIMATES ARE T4.0/65 FROM TAFB AND SAB... AND A 01/0920Z
NESDIS/CIRA AMSU PRESSSURE ESTIMATE WAS 986 MB.. AND 01/0920Z
INTENSITY ESTIMATE FROM UW-CIMSS WAS 985 MB/66 KT. BASED ON THIS
INFORMATION... EPSILON HAS BEEN UPGRADED TO A 65-KT HURRICANE. THIS
IS NOT UNPRECEDENTED FOR A HURRICANE TO FORM THIS LATE IN THE
SEASON OR OVER THIS PART OF THE ATLANTIC OCEAN. HURRICANE NOEL IN
NOVEMBER 2001 FORMED NEAR 38N 50W...ABOUT 250 NMI NORTH OF EPSILON.
THE INITIAL MOTION IS 045/12 KT. SATELLITE FIX POSITIONS FROM ALL
THREE AGENCIES HAVE BEEN COMING IN ON THE PREVIOUS FORECAST TRACK
...SO LITTLE CHANGE HAS BEEN MADE. NHC MODEL GUIDANCE HAS CONTINUED
TO BECOME MORE CONVERGENT ON A NORTHEASTWARD MOTION FOR THE NEXT 72
HOURS. AFTERWARDS... HOWEVER... THE MODELS DIVERGE SIGNIFICANTLY ON
HOW THEY HANDLE EPSILON AS AN EXTRATROPICAL LOW. THE GFDL AND GFDN
TAKE EPSILON MORE NORTHWARD... WHEREAS THE GFS... UKMET... AND
NOGAPS MODELS TAKE THE CYCLONE MORE EASTWARD AND SOUTHWARD BY 120
HOURS DUE TO COMPLEX INTERACTION AND/OR MERGER WITH ANOTHER
EXTRATROPICAL LOW THAT IS FORECAST TO DEVELOP OVER THE AZORES. THE
OFFICIAL FORECAST IS SIMILAR TO THE PREVIOUS FORECAST TRACK AND
REMAINS A LITTLE NORTH OF AND SLOWER THAN THE NHC MODEL CONSENSUS.
SHIP DEDM LOCATED ABOUT 160 NMI EAST OF EPSILON AT 12Z REPORTED A
SST OF 24C/75F... WHICH INDICATES THAT EPSILON HAS BEEN MOVING
ALONG A NARROW RIDGE OF WARMER SSTS. THIS LIKELY EXPLAINS TO A
LARGE DEGREE WHY EPSILON HAS BEEN ABLE TO IMPROVE ITS CONVECTIVE
ORGANIZATION THIS MORNING. HOWEVER... BUOYS NORTHEAST OF THE
CYCLONE INDICATE SSTS BELOW 70F ARE LESS THAN 200 NMI AWAY. AS
SUCH... EPSILON SHOULD BEGIN TO STEADILY WEAKEN WITHIN THE NEXT
12-18 HOURS AND PROBABLY BECOME EXTRATROPICAL BY 36 HOURS.
FORECASTER STEWART
FORECAST POSITIONS AND MAX WINDS
INITIAL 02/1500Z 33.7N 48.2W 65 KT
12HR VT 03/0000Z 34.6N 46.9W 60 KT
24HR VT 03/1200Z 35.8N 45.0W 55 KT...BECOMING EXTRATROPICAL
36HR VT 04/0000Z 37.0N 43.0W 50 KT...EXTRATROPICAL
48HR VT 04/1200Z 38.3N 40.7W 45 KT...EXTRATROPICAL
72HR VT 05/1200Z 40.8N 36.2W 45 KT...EXTRATROPICAL
96HR VT 06/1200Z 43.0N 32.0W 40 KT...EXTRATROPICAL
120HR VT 07/1200Z 44.5N 29.0W 40 KT...EXTRATROPICAL
Link
Good morning.:)
Theres a new blog posted by Dr. Masters.
(Note to grammarphobes: the rule is to join words with hyphens when the group is used as one modifier, in this case as an adjective, and no, I'm not an English teacher.)
Hi everyone. Yesterday I said that the rain would stay in Northern California and I was right. Not a drope of rain down here. Mybe a 10th of an inch today down here where I live. Mybe a little more but nothing big. I have a fealing this is going to be a supper dry winter down here. I beleave most of the winter high perssure will controle the area with warm dry Santa Ana winds off and on for most of the winter season.
Maybe... dry years do tend to come after wet years. We only got less than a tenth too. However, there are other indications, things are pretty crazy everywhere this year, I wouldn't be surprised if we got some large, unusual storms this year. The old timers i've talked to seem pretty split on whether it will be wet or dry, and apparently so is the NWS. My gut feeling is december will be dry until after xmas, and then in janurary we will have a few storms worth talking about. Also, it should be rather windy and cold in December... and there could be a fire somewhere if we don't get more rain. we will see though
Also, I'm not sure if Delta should count, because it was extratropical when it hit the Canary Islands.
All in all, it was definitely an incredbile, once in a lifetime season. Lets hope we never see a season like this again...
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