Blustery year
The Atlantic hurricane season began June 8 with Arlene, followed quickly by Bret. Having two or more tropical storms in June in the region had happened only 12 times in 154 years, so forecasters figured that a busy hurricane season might be in the works. Little did they know. After Bret came Cindy, then Dennis, then Emily and Franklin – and so on and so on until, 15 storms later, the weather service ran out of alphabet letters (a first) and had to dip into the Greek alphabet. In all, a record 25 tropical storms – 13 of them hurricanes (another record!) – formed during the June 1-Nov. 30 Atlantic hurricane season. KidsPost takes a look back.
Arlene (June 8-13)
Tropical storm; maximum sustained winds of 70 miles per hour (mph).
Did you know? Storm disrupted plans to open Fort Pickens, a Civil War battle site in Florida where Apache warrior Geronimo once was imprisoned.
Bret (June 28-29)
Tropical storm; 40 mph.
Hurricane history: In the late 1970s, men’s names were added to the hurricane list, which had been all-women for 25 years.
Cindy (July 3-7)
Tropical storm; 70 mph.
Did you know? Soaked Louisiana with 8 inches of rain, toppling 200-year-old oaks.
Dennis (July 4-12)
Category 4 hurricane; 150 mph.
Did you know? Flipped a sunken Navy ship off Key Largo upright, just as Florida divers had wanted.
Emily (July 11-21)
Category 4 hurricane; 155 mph.
Did you know? Slammed into Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula twice, but spared the Mayan ruins in Tulum.
Franklin (July 21-29)
Tropical storm; 70 mph.
Did you know? Formed strong rip currents, challenging Rhode Island surfers.
Gert (July 23-25)
Tropical storm; 45 mph.
Did you know? Set a record as July’s fifth named storm.
Harvey (Aug. 2-8)
Tropical storm; 65 mph
Did you know? Like most Atlantic storms, began as a tropical wave in North Africa.
Irene (Aug. 4-18)
Category 2 hurricane; 105 mph.
Did you know? Roamed the Atlantic for two weeks and never touched land.
Jose (Aug. 22-23)
Tropical storm; 50 mph.
Did you know? Lasted fewer than 24 hours.
Katrina (Aug. 23-31)
Category 5 hurricane; 175 mph.
Did you know? Became the most destructive storm in U.S. history, causing more than $125 billion in damage and killing more than 1,200 people. Much of New Orleans was under water, and people had to be plucked from their roofs.
Lee (Aug. 28-Sept. 1)
Tropical storm; 40 mph.
Hurricane history: Before Katrina, the most damaging U.S. hurricane was small but ferocious Andrew, in 1992. South Florida took the biggest hit.
Maria (Sept. 1-10)
Category 3 hurricane; 115 mph.
Did you know? Missed North American coastlines and headed east — all the way to Norway, where one woman died in a mudslide.
Nate (Sept. 5-10)
Category 1 hurricane; 90 mph
Hurricane history: The deadliest U.S. weather disaster was the 1900 Galveston, Texas, hurricane, which killed 8,000 to 12,000 people.
Ophelia (Sept. 6-18)
Category 1 hurricane; 85 mph.
Did you know? Pounded North Carolina’s beaches, but spared a 16-foot-high house made of bottles at Airlie Gardens. Strong winds made the house “sing.”
Philippe (Sept. 17-24)
Category 1 hurricane; 80 mph.
Hurricane history: In 1969, Camille ripped into Mississippi with 200 mph winds. An exact measurement was impossible because Camille destroyed all wind-recording equipment.
Rita (Sept. 18-26)
Category 5 hurricane; 175 mph.
Did you know? Gas prices soared above $3 a gallon as first Katrina and then Rita damaged Gulf Coast oil refineries.
Stan (Oct. 1-5)
Category 1 hurricane; 80 mph.
Did you know? Led to massive landslides in Guatemala that killed more than 1,000 people.
Tammy (Oct. 5-6)
Category 1 hurricane; 50 mph.
Hurricane history: The average hurricane releases heat energy equal to all of the electric energy produced in the United States in one year.
Vince (Oct. 9-11)
Category 1 hurricane; 75 mph.
Did you know? Became Spain’s first-known tropical cyclone.
Wilma (Oct. 15-25)
Category 5 hurricane; 175 mph.
Did you know? Was the third Category 5 storm of 2005 — yet another record.
Alpha (Oct. 22-24)
Tropical storm; 50 mph.
Did you know? Got its name from the Greek alphabet, the first storm to do so.
Beta (Oct. 26-31)
Category 3 hurricane; 115 mph.
Did you know? Battered Central America, dumping up to 15 inches of rain on Nicaragua and Honduras and destroying thousands of homes.
Gamma (Nov. 18-21)
Tropical storm; 45 mph.
Did you know? Overturned a rescue boat, killing several people.
Delta (Nov. 23-?)
Tropical storm; 70 mph.
Did you know? As of Monday night, was headed for North Africa.
Epsilon (Nov. 29-?)
Hurricane; 75 mph
Did you know? Epsilon is only the fifth December hurricane in more than 120 years.
(As of Friday afternoon, Delta and Epsilon were continuing.)