They began earlier, continued later, and some took unexpected paths before hitting land. Between record-breaking hurricanes in both the Atlantic and Pacific, billions of dollars in damages were seen. All told, was one of the most active hurricane seasons on record, and some studies are speculating that a warming climate may be making these storms more frequent and more intense. A number of factors, however, can determine the strength of a hurricane when it hits land.
Over the course of weeks, tropical storm systems must gather strength, survive wind shear, and pass over land obstacles before striking land as a hurricane learn more how hurricanes form. Thanks to satellite monitoring, scientists are able to see storms play out, a capability that will help them understand how storms might be changing.
Below, see the paths 's worst storms took toward devastation learn about the strongest storms in history. One of the wettest storms on record, Hurricane Florence developed in mid-September and made landfall over the Carolinas on September Florence had slowed to just a Category 1 by the time it hit, but it carried with it intense amounts of water that led to disastrous rainfall. The storm, which developed off the coast of west Africa, was warm, meaning it carried more moisture than cooler storms.
As it stalled over the south east U. At the height of the storm's impact, more than a million people were without power. A home is flooded by Thoroughfare Swamp in Goldsboro after several days of heavy rain from Florence overwhelmed rivers which feed into the Neuse River.
Hurricane Michael hit the Florida panhandle as a deadly Category 4 storm. It was one of the strongest to strike Florida in a century and the third strongest storm to hit the U. Wind speeds were as high as miles per hour in Florida and Georgia. As the storm headed west over the Caribbean, it initially slowed down, but the warmer-than-average ocean water temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico fueled Michael, making it stronger.
A week after the storm hit, 34 people had died, and more than 1, were missing. Waves crash against a road in Havana, Cuba on Tuesday. In only three days, Michael intensified from a tropical storm to a category 4 hurricane. See more photos. One of the most dangerous things a hurricane can do is slow down. Meteorologists warn that the Saffir-Simpson scale, the rankings classifying hurricanes on a scale of one to five, isn't the best indication of how dangerous a hurricane could be to the residents living in its path.
As seen with Hurricane Florence, slow-moving hurricanes can stall over land, ushering in devastating flooding that can last for days. A study published this summer in the journal Nature found that, on average, hurricanes have slowed by 10 percent since Those moving in the North Atlantic ocean had slowed by 20 percent.
It's thought that a warmer atmosphere weakens tropical circulation, meaning hurricanes could become slower and rainier in the future as the world continues to warm. Hurricane Lane hit Hawaii in late August as a Category 5 storm. As Lane moved south east days before it hit Hawaii, it put the island chain in a tragically well-aligned position to ensure all islands would be hit.
Hawaii is frequently grazed by dangerous tropical storms, but it's rare for it to be directly hit by a hurricane. After meandering towards the Gulf, it intensified into Subtropical Storm Alberto. Next, the subtropical storm transitioned into a tropical storm and plowed into the Panhandle on May Alberto wasn't done with unique and record-breaking behavior after initial landfall either. The system maintained tropical depression strength all the way from Florida to Michigan before finally weakening into a remnant low.
Michigan doesn't see many tropical depressions. The early start to the hurricane season also kicked off a record-breaking trend of subtropical storms. On average, we see 4 subtropical storms per year according to NOAA. A record seven named storms -- Alberto, Beryl, Debby, Ernesto, Joyce, Leslie and Oscar -- were classified as subtropical at some point.
The previous record of five subtropical storms occurred in A subtropical storm is a named storm that has tropical and non-tropical characteristics. All subtropical storms this season eventually transitioned into tropical storms, with three -- Beryl, Leslie and Oscar -- eventually becoming hurricanes. One of the two most destructive hurricanes this season, Florence, also had record-breaking and unusual behavior from the start. This is above the average of The number of named storms ranked as a tie for the tenth most on record.
Both of the major hurricanes — Florence and Michael — impacted the U. Although Florence weakened significantly before making landfall as a Category 1 storm, she brought unprecedented amounts of rainfall and subsequent flooding to parts of North and South Carolina. The ACE index is used to calculate the intensity of the hurricane season and is a function of the wind speed and duration of each tropical cyclone.
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