10 Hurricanes in 10 Weeks: With Ophelia, a 124-Year-Old Record is Matched (original) (raw)

Climate|10 Hurricanes in 10 Weeks: With Ophelia, a 124-Year-Old Record is Matched

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/11/climate/hurricane-ophelia.html

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Storm clouds outside Miami Beach last month warned of Hurricane Irma’s approach. Six more hurricanes have developed since Irma.Credit...Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Oct. 11, 2017

With Tropical Storm Ophelia’s transition to Hurricane Ophelia on Wednesday, 2017 became the first year in more than a century — and only the fourth on record — in which 10 Atlantic storms in a row reached hurricane strength.

Franklin. Gert. Harvey. Irma. Jose. Katia. Lee. Maria. Nate. Ophelia.

Ophelia, far out in the Atlantic, does not pose a threat to the United States, though it may affect Ireland. But it puts this year in the history books by at least one measure. The last time 10 consecutive Atlantic storms became hurricanes was in 1893 — and because tracking technology was far more primitive then, meteorologists say, some weak tropical storms or tropical depressions may have gone undetected within that streak.

There were also 10-hurricane runs in 1878 and 1886, said Bob Henson, a meteorologist for Weather Underground. But since modern records began in 1851, there has never been an 11-hurricane stretch.

Since Hurricane Franklin formed on Aug. 7, Mr. Henson said, there has been “maybe a week total without a named storm roaming the Atlantic somewhere.” Two of the 10 hurricanes in that period, Irma and Maria, reached the highest level, Category 5. Two others, Harvey and Jose, reached Category 4. Within a single month from mid-August to mid-September, six hurricanes developed.

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Tropical Storm Ophelia over the Atlantic Ocean on Wednesday, shortly before it reached hurricane strength.Credit...Earthdata

The number of named storms — 10 hurricanes and five tropical storms, for a total of 15 — has already made the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season one of the busiest on record, and there is still more than a month and a half to go before it officially ends.

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