Looking Back at the 2024 Hurricane Season

12/1/24 – The 2024 Atlantic Hurricane Season ended yesterday. The season predicted to be “extreme” turned out to be “above average,” according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC).

The Atlantic basin, which includes the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, saw 18 named storms in 2024.

Of the 18, 11 became hurricanes and five became major hurricanes.

Comparison of 2024 to 30-Year Average

Each of these numbers is greater than the average for the 30-year period from 1991-2020. See table below.

	*1991-2020 Average*	*2024*
Named Storms (39 mph or greater)	14	18
Hurricanes (74 mph or greater)	7	11
Major Hurricanes (111 or greater)	3	5

Source: National Hurricane Center

Landfalls in U.S.

According to NHC, five hurricanes made landfall in the continental U.S. Significantly, two of those storms made landfall as major hurricanes.

Comparison to Predictions

The Atlantic seasonal activity fell within the predicted ranges for named storms and hurricanes issued by NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center in the 2024 August Hurricane Season Outlook.

Atypical Season Took Dip Where Peak Should Have Been

But 2024 was an atypical season. It started with a bang, fell into a lull, and then ended with a record.

Hurricane Beryl was the earliest Atlantic basin Category-5 hurricane on record. It caused significant storm surge flooding across parts of Texas and Louisiana after making landfall near Matagorda, Texas, as a Category-1 storm. People on my street are still cleaning up from Beryl!

However, later in the year, Mother Nature hit the pause button on tropical formation. Matthew Rosencrans, lead hurricane forecaster at NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center, a division of NOAA’s National Weather Service said, “Several possible factors contributed to the peak season lull in the Atlantic region. The particularly intense winds and rains over Western Africa created an environment that was less hospitable for storm development.”

But, strangely, at the time tropical activity should have been tapering off, we saw record-setting activity.

“Twelve named storms formed after the climatological peak of the season in early September. Seven hurricanes formed in the Atlantic since September 25 — the most on record for this period,” said the NHC.

Record Setters

Hurricane Beryl was the earliest Cat 5 storm on record for the Atlantic Basin.

Cat 4 Helene became the deadliest since Katrina in 2005. It caused more than 150 direct fatalities, mostly in North and South Carolina. Helene was also the strongest hurricane ever to make landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region.

In late September, Hurricane Helene also marked the first time ever that NOAA’s National Hurricane Center (NHC) forecasted a system to become a major hurricane before it became a tropical depression or tropical storm.

Hurricane Milton’s rate of rapid intensification was among the highest ever observed, with a 90-mile-per-hour increase in wind speed during the 24-hour period from early October 6 to early October 7.

Milton’s central pressure dropped to 897 millibars – the lowest pressure for an Atlantic Hurricane since Wilma in 2005.

Storm-By-Storm Summary

The table below shows the dates and maximum winds of each named storm in the Atlantic basin during 2024.

*Name*	*Dates*	*Max Wind (mph)*
TS Alberto	19-20 June	50
MH Beryl	28 June – 9 July	165
TS Chris	30 June – 1 July	45
H Debbie	3-9 August	80
H Ernesto	12-20 August	100
H Francine	9-12 September	100
TS Gordon	11-17 September	45
MH Helene	24-27 September	140
H Isaac	26-30 September	105
TS Joyce	27 September – 1 October	50
MH Kirk	29 September – 7 October	145
H Leslie	2-12 October	105
MH Milton	5-10 October	180
TS Nadine	19-20 October	60
H Oscar	19-22 October	85
TS Patty	2-4 November	65
MH Rafael	4-10 November	120
TS Sara	14-18 November	50