MIAMI — Hurricane Season 2023 is done!
It officially ends November 30.
We had no tropical impacts in our area this year.
Overall, it was an above average season thanks to a strong El Niño and record-breaking surface temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean.
Hurricane Season 2023 was an active year. We had one unnamed storm in January, and then 19 named storms. That’s 20 storms in all. seven became hurricanes and three became major hurricanes. That’s above average. The average is 14 named storms, seven become hurricanes and three become major hurricanes.
This was a tough year to forecast the Hurricane Season. We had two major players. A strong El Nino was developing. El Nino causes upper level winds that can tear apart a tropical system. We also had record warm water in the Tropical Atlantic. Warm water is the fuel for tropical development. It was basically a tug of war, and the big question was…what would win? Warm water or El Nino?
Phil Klotzbach with Colorado State University and NOAA, The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration both forecast a near normal season near the start of Hurricane Season. As things got going, they changed the forecast to above normal because the warm water was causing more storms to develop.
In July Phil Klotzbach increased the forecast to 18 named storms, 9 become hurricanes and 4 become major hurricanes.
In August NOAA updated the forecast to 14-21 named storms, 6-11 become hurricanes and 2-5 become major hurricanes.