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Tropical Update UNUSUAL 2012 HURRICANE SEASON COMES TO A CLOSE
The 2012 hurricane season marks the 3rd consecutive year with 19 named storms. Since 1851, only two seasons- 2005 (28 named storms) and 1933 (21 named storms) have been busier than 2010, 2011, and 2012.
This season will go down in history as the year of "super storm" Sandy which carved a path of death and destruction from Jamaica and Cuba to the Jersey shore and Long Island. It was also notable for something it was not: intense. For the third-straight season, the tropics churned out an abnormally large number of storms, yet only 1 of 19 storms managed to reach Category 3 strength.
For only the third time in history, two tropical storms formed in May before the hurricane season officially started on June 1st. Alberto formed off the Carolina coast, but fizzled without making landfall. Beryl formed in roughly the same place and made landfall near Jacksonville, FL with 70 mph winds. Beryl goes in the record books as the strongest tropical system to hit the U.S. before June 1st.
Chris became the first hurricane of the season on June 21st, but did not form in the Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico or the tropical Atlantic ocean. It actually formed at a latitude farther north than New York City!
Debby also formed in late June and was the second tropical storm to make landfall in Florida producing numerous tornadoes and flooding rain.
After an incredibly fast start to the season, July went silent. Not a single storm formed the entire month. As soon as the calendar turned to August, activity skyrocketed. By the end of the month, a record 8 tropical storms & hurricanes had formed...Ernesto, Florence, Gordon, Helene, Isaac, Joyce, Kirk and Leslie. Hurricane Isaac headlined the month making two landfalls in Louisiana. Sadly, 9 people lost their lives...5 in Louisiana, 2 in Mississippi and 2 in Florida.
Hurricane Michael was the only major hurricane (category 3 or higher) of the season with peak winds of 115 mph. It was only a category 3 hurricane for 6 hours and stayed over the open ocean. Remarkably, 7 years have passed since a major hurricane hit the United States. Hurricane Wilma was the last to do so on October 24, 2005.
Nadine formed in the tropical Atlantic Ocean on September 11 and spent a total of just over three weeks, 21.75 days to be exact, as a named tropical storm. It goes down in history as the fifth longest-lasting storm on record.
Oscar, Patty and Rafael formed in October, but all stayed out to sea.
Then there was hurricane Sandy...one of the largest and fiercest storms to ever strike the east coast. Although technically not a hurricane at landfall near Atlantic City on the evening of October 29th, Sandy produced hurricane force winds of 80mph and a devastating storm surge that peaked near 13 feet on the Jersey Shore. Sandy also produced the Grand Strand's most significant impacts of the season, with large waves, rain and wind gusts near 40 mph.
Sandy killed at least 125 people in the United States. That includes 60 in New York - 48 of them in New York City - 34 in New Jersey and 16 in Pennsylvania. At least 7 people died in West Virginia, where the storm dropped heavy snow. Sandy killed 71 people in the Caribbean, including 54 in Haiti.
Sandy is being blamed for at least $65 billion in damage in the U.S. (final figure still unknown), the vast majority of it in New York and New Jersey. It's the second-costliest storm in U.S. history after 2005's hurricane Katrina, which caused $128 billion in damage in inflation-adjusted dollars. Sandy damaged or destroyed more than 72,000 homes and businesses in New Jersey alone.
Tropical Storm Tony was the last named storm of the season. It formed after Sandy, but fizzled over the open ocean 4 days before Sandy made landfall.
All of the outlooks for the hurricane season significantly under-forecast the number of storms that formed in 2012. All believed El Nino would develop and reduce activity in the second half of the season. Because El Nino and it's shearing winds didn't develop, activity never slowed.
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Thursday, May 16, 2013
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Thursday, May 16, 2013
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Wednesday, May 15, 2013
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Tuesday, May 14, 2013
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