2005 Hurricane Season Shattered Records

Posted on December 19, 2005

The 2005 hurricane season was one for the record books as the number of named tropical storms and the number of powerful hurricanes trumped all other recorded years. The Weather Channel has a write up on this year's season. They also listed the records broken in 2005.

26 Named Storms (previous record: 21 in 1933)
14 Hurricanes (previous record: 12 in 1969)
Four major hurricanes hitting the U.S. (previous record: three in 2004)
Three Category 5 Hurricanes (previous record: two in 1960 and 1961)
Seven Tropical Storms before August 1 (previous record: five in 1997)
Two-Year Consecutive Total of Tropical Storms: 41 (previous record: 32 most recently in 1995-96)
Two-Year Consecutive Total of Hurricanes: 23 (previous record: 21 in 1886-87)
Two-Year Consecutive Total of Major Hurricanes: 13 (ties record in 1950-51)
Two-Year Consecutive Major Hurricane Landfalls: Seven (previous record: five in 1954-55)
Two -Year Consecutive Florida Major Hurricane Landfalls: Five (previous record: three in 1949-50)
Three-Year Consecutive Total of Tropical Storms: 57 (previous record: 43 most recently in 2002-04)
Three-Year Consecutive Total of Hurricanes: 30 (previous record: 27 in 1886-88)
Three-Year Consecutive Total of Major Hurricanes: 16 (ties record in 1949-51 and 1950-52)
Costliest Atlantic Season ($107 billion+) (previous record 2004, $45 billion)
Costliest Hurricane: Katrina ($80 billion+) (previous record Andrew, $26.5 billion - 1992 dollars)
Deadliest U.S. Hurricane since 1928: Katrina (at least 1,200)
Strongest Hurricane in the Atlantic Basin: Wilma 882 millibars (mb) (previous record: Gilbert at 888 mb)
Three of the six strongest hurricanes on record: Wilma 882 mb (1st), Rita 897 mb (4th), Katrina 902 mb (6th)
July hurricane: Emily (155 mph top sustained winds) (previous record: Dennis (150 mph) in 2005; Hurricane #1 (140 mph) in 1926.
Hurricane Epsilon became the longest lasting Atlantic hurricane on record for the month of December.

Monthly summaries can also be found on the National Hurricane Center website. December is not up yet. 2006 is already forecast to be active as well but hopefully not nearly as destructive as 2005.

The team's first extended-range forecast for the 2006 hurricane season anticipates 17 named storms forming in the Atlantic basin between June 1 and Nov. 30. Nine of the 17 storms are predicted to become hurricanes, and of those nine, five are expected to develop into intense or major hurricanes (Saffir/Simpson category 3-4-5) with sustained winds of 111 mph or greater.

The above forecast is from Philip Klotzbach, William Gray and Colorado State University's forecast team.

HURRICANES