BUFFALO, N.Y. — It's official: the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season will go down in history as the most active on record.
Theta is the 29th named storm of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season and its formation Tuesday set a new record for the whole season.
This season now has the most named tropical and/or subtropical storms of a single season. The previous record for most named storms of a single season was 2005 with 28 storms. Records for this statistic go all the way back to 1851.
Hurricane season for the Atlantic Ocean officially begins June 1st and runs through the end of November. This year, the season began on May 16th with the formation of tropical storm Arthur. Each year there is a pre-determined list of twenty one names to be given to tropical systems by the National Hurricane Center (NHC). But if more names are needed for a season, the NHC moves on to the Greek alphabet for its names. And that occurred on September 18th with the formation of subtropical storm Alpha.
Forecasters predicted this year to be a "highly active" season all the way back in May. In August, their mid-season update echoed this prediction with a possible 19 to 25 named storms, 7 to 11 hurricanes and 3 to 6 major hurricanes. That has turned out to be a pretty accurate forecast with a record 29 named storms, 12 hurricanes and 5 major hurricanes developing so far this season.
A record number of these storms also made landfall across the U.S. So far, twelve tropical systems have made landfall this year across the U.S., replacing another record set back in 1916 of nine.
The combination of warmer ocean temperatures and weaker trade winds associated with a developing La Niña favored tropical storm development. And though the season is winding down, a new record could still be made if a tropical system "Iota" develops this month.
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