The cruising and aviation industries are facing new challenges as Florida’s hurricane season shows signs of moving from its September 10 peak.
The 2023 Atlantic hurricane season has been described as unusually unpredictable, marked by the rapid intensification of Hurricane Milton, which escalated from a tropical storm to a Category 5 hurricane in just 46.5 hours.
Following an initially quiet period from mid-August to late September, five hurricanes formed in early October, breaking previous records for simultaneous hurricanes during this time.
Factors contributing to the unusual storm patterns include record high sea temperatures, a delay in hurricane activity, and climatic influences such as the Central American Gyre and Saharan dust affecting storm formation.
Experts warn that the ongoing effects of climate change significantly increase hurricane intensity and rainfall, with studies showing that hotter ocean temperatures can enhance the severity of storms, leading to greater damage.
Milton became the seventh storm in the last 20 years to gain at least 120 kph in wind speed in just 24 hours and none did so between 1950 and 2000.
Helene was one of the largest storms in size in recent decades, with tropical storm force winds that end-to-end stretched 675 km wide before landfall, the third largest Gulf storm since 1988 and larger than the state of Georgia.
August 20 is the traditional milestone marking the beginning of peak hurricane season – which runs to mid October – so much so that hurricane season forecasting pioneer Bill Gray used to ring a bell.
From August 20 – the traditional start of peak hurricane season – to September 23 it was record quiet in 2024.
Then five hurricanes popped up between September 26 and October 6, more than double the old record of two. On Sunday and Monday, there were three hurricanes in October at the same time – something that never happened before.
In 2005 and 2020 there were so many storms forecasters ran out of the 21 names to use for tropical storms and hurricanes and had to use the Greek alphabet. In 2005, the year of Hurricane Katrina, there were 28 named storms and in 2020 30 named storms.
The WMO has developed the following list of 21 supplemental names to be used in the event the Atlantic’s seasonal list of 21 names is depleted: Adria, Braylen, Caridad, Deshawn, Emery, Foster, Gemma, Heath, Isla, Jacobus, Kenzie, Lucio, Makayla, Nolan, Orlanda, Pax, Ronin, Sophie, Tayshaun, Viviana, Will.
