BBC Weather Centre - World Weather - News - 30/11/2004

Today, being the 30th November, heralds the official end to this year’s Atlantic Hurricane season! Hurrah, cry the residents of Florida and the Gulf states of the USA. However, the season started rather earlier than 1st June. Back in March, a hurricane developed in the south Atlantic basin, which was the first ever recorded hurricane formed here since satellite records began in 1966. This storm came ashore along the coast of Brazil at Santa Caterina on the 28th March. Hurricanes (or indeed storms) typically do not form south of the equator, so this was a very unusual event.

Alex eventually got the season underway at the end of July, rapidly intensifying to a category 2 hurricane by early August, and bashing North Carolina. Wind speeds were 100mph, but it never actually made landfall.

Tropical storm (TS) Bonnie was hot on Alex’s heels, but this storm was quickly dismissed as Charley began it’s journey from Trinidad to the west coast of Florida. Charley became one of the major storms of the season, reaching category 4 in strength, and surface winds of 145mph.

Danielle looked like becoming a successive major storm when it started to form on 13th August, but although it reached category 2, it never affected land.

TS Earl didn’t last long – just a few days. But Frances was brewing; this storm began on the 24th August, and then developed into the second category 4 storm of the season. Frances made landfall in Palm Beach before crossing the Florida Panhandle, moving back into the Gulf of Mexico, and hitting land for the second time in St Marks, western Florida, on the 6th September. This particular storm stayed a very damaging feature for some time, as it was slow to move into open water. Once Frances began to move up the eastern side of the USA, it caused flood damage from Georgia to New York.

Gaston and Hermine followed, but the focus was already on Ivan.

Ivan began forming on the 2nd September and became a hurricane three days later. Later that day, Ivan reached category 4 strength, destroying much of the property in Granada before strengthening to a category 5 on the 9th September. By this time, the winds were up to 150mph, and Ivan went on the cause massive destruction on the Cayman Islands. Eventually, Ivan weakened to a still massive category 3 before finally making landfall in Alabama on the 19th September.

Hurricane Jeanne began to form around this time, and dumped huge amounts of rain over the Leeward Isles. 120mph winds heralded the arrival of Jeanne at almost the same spot as Frances had arrived just three weeks earlier. Flooding from Jeanne was responsible for 3000 deaths in Haiti.

Although Karl and Lisa reached hurricane strength, neither made much impact during their lifetimes. The season closed with TS Matthew, and finally sub-tropical storm Nicole.

When you look back on a season as a whole, and compare the catastrophic intensity of category 4 and 5 storms, it’s easy to dismiss the weaker tropical systems as an anti climax. But, it’s worth noting that even these weaker storms which develop are capable of causing considerable damage. Although the winds are not as damaging as the more intense storms, they still produce dramatic amounts of rain. If the storms do not move away quickly, they are likely to lead to torrential rainfalls and landslides, which in itself can be hugely damaging to homes and communities.

Whichever was you look at it, it’s time to breathe a sigh of relief that it’s all over…for a few months, at least.

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