hurricanes

Deaths Caused By Hurricane Beryl and the 2024 Hurricane Season

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NHC’s Atlantic Tropical Cyclone Reports for the 2024 hurricane season have been posted, the final Atlantic tropical cyclone track map and summary table: Deaths Caused By Hurricane Beryl in The United States Beryl directly caused 14 deaths in the United States, with 11 of these occurring in Texas,one in Louisiana, and two in Vermont. In … Read more

2025 Tropical Storm and Hurricane Names

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Did you know your next big storm might be called “Hurricane Karen” or “Tropical Storm Wendy”? Hurricane names aren’t just random – they follow a carefully planned system designed to make communication about these dangerous storms easier. For example, it’s much simpler for meteorologists and newscasters to say “Hurricane Hector” rather than trying to remember … Read more

Current Tropical Storms & Hurricanes in the Atlantic and Pacific

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Atlantic Tropical Weather Outlook No Current Tropical Activity There are currently no active tropical systems in the Atlantic basin. Get notified when new storms form: Map currently unavailable. Please check back later. The Essential Tools for Tracking Tropical Storms When it comes to monitoring developing tropical storms and hurricanes, there are three essential tools you … Read more

Hurricane Survival: Supplies and a Plan of Action

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Hurricane Readiness

Hurricane season starts on June 1st and runs through November 30.  This time frame was created based on long-term statistics, but hurricanes can certainly occur outside of this range.  In January 2016, for example, Hurricane Alex became the strongest Atlantic hurricane to occur during the northern hemispheric winter. So, irrespective of the date, take some … Read more

Ophelia becomes a rare major hurricane south of the Azores

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On the morning of October 14th, 2017, at 11:00am AST, Hurricane Ophelia was upgraded to a rare major hurricane south of the Azores Islands in the far northeastern Atlantic. Ophelia is a Category-3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale, with maximum sustained winds of 115mph. Three days earlier, on October 11th, Ophelia became the 10th consecutive … Read more

Hurricane Matthew: One of the Atlantic’s Deadliest Since 2005

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On September 27th, 2016, a tropical depression had formed in the eastern Atlantic Ocean that had traversed across the Atlantic Ocean as a disturbance of thunderstorms days prior. The next day on September 28th, a tropical storm formed. Its name: Matthew.  Over the next few days, Matthew would undergo a rapid intensification process and strengthened … Read more

Super Typhoon Meranti: 2016’s Strongest Storm on Earth

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Image of Super Typhoon Meranti

This is an amazing satellite loop of Super Typhoon Meranti tracking toward southern Taiwan, with the eye passing just south of Taiwan’s southern tip. Meranti is now headed for the northern Philippines & southeast China. As of late Tuesday afternoon (9/13/16), Super Typhoon Meranti had become the strongest storm on Earth so far in 2016, … Read more

Hurricane Alex: Strongest Atlantic Winter Hurricane on Record

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January 14, 2016 (1 pm EST) Max-Sustained Wind: 75 kt / 85 mph / 981 mb / Category 1 View the list of active tropical cyclones Interesting Statistics about Hurricane Alex Alex is only the 2nd-known Atlantic hurricane to form during the month of January since records began (partial record as far back as 1842). … Read more

What is the Difference Between a Hurricane and a Typhoon?

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A hurricane is the exact same meteorological phenomenon as a typhoon. The difference is simply a function of the storm’s location relative to the International Date Line (180ºW).  A “hurricane” west of the International Date Line (IDL) is called a typhoon.  The term is believed to have its origins in Sinitic, one of the Chinese … Read more

Hurricane Katrina: The Dire NWS Warning That Saved Lives

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On this, the -year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s final landfall east of New Orleans, I wanted to share some graphics and the very rare, dire warning issued the National Weather Service in Slidell, Louisiana that likely saved many, many lives. Radar Loop at Landfall   Satellite Loop at Landfall   Location of the NWS Brief … Read more

Hurricane Hunter P-3 Tail Radar on Google Earth

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Prior to the advent of weather satellites and aircraft reconnaissance of tropical cyclones during the mid-20th century, the loss of life due to unexpected, landfalling hurricanes was tremendous. In 2015, hurricane forecasting continues to improve thanks to ongoing upgrades in observational technology (aircraft, dropsondes, tail radar, etc.), computational resources, improved numerical prediction models (model resolution, … Read more

How Many Lives Have Been Saved By Improved Hurricane Forecasts?

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Trends In The Ratio Of Damage To Deaths Caused By United States Land-Falling Hurricanes 24th AMS Conference on Hurricanes and Tropical Meteorology (2000) Chris C. Robbins and James Gross National Hurricane Center, Miami, Florida   We have estimated that, if the pre-reconnaissance trend continued at the time of Hurricane Andrew, approximately 4,354 deaths may have … Read more

Rapid Intensification of Tropical Storms & Hurricanes in the North Atlantic

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A Climatology Of Rapidly Intensifying Tropical Cyclones In The North Atlantic Basin, 1975-2000 25th AMS Conference on Hurricanes and Tropical Meteorology (2002) Chris C. Robbins and Stacy R. Stewart National Hurricane Center, Miami, Florida   1. Introduction Rapidly intensifying tropical cyclones pose a significant forecast problem for operational meteorologists. Unfortunately, the climatological nature of such … Read more

Hurricane Irene’s (1999) post-landfall intensification and downbursts

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Mesocyclone-Induced Downbursts Associated With The Landfall Of Hurricane Irene (1999) Over S. FL 24th AMS Conference on Hurricanes and Tropical Meteorology Stacy R. Stewart and Chris C. Robbins Tropical Prediction Center, Miami, Florida   1. Introduction This paper examines the occurrence of multiple damaging downbursts or “miniswirls” with the passage of Hurricane Irene across South … Read more