After a very busy autumn with two destructive landfalls on the U.S. coast, the 2022 Atlantic Hurricane Season is starting to wrap-up on quiet note. The season draws to a close on November 30 and its unlikely any tropical cyclones will form in the Atlantic Basin between now and then.
In October and November, Hurricanes Ian and Nicole smashed into the Florida coastline, with Ian destroying portions of the southwest Florida coast around and near Fort Meyers and Nicole destroying parts of the east coast near Daytona. In September, Hurricane Fiona struck Atlantic Canada, bringing devastation to portions of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland.
In all, there were 16 tropical depressions, 14 tropical storms, 8 hurricanes, and 2 major hurricanes in the season that started June 1 and runs through the end of this month. Overall, the season was considered near-normal even though earlier tropical outlook forecasts issued by NOAA and other entities, such as Colorado State University, suggested a more active season.
And according to the latest Tropical Outlook issued by the National Hurricane Center today, no tropical cyclones are expected over the next 5 days anywhere in the Atlantic Basin.
Long range computer guidance, including the American GFS and European ECMWF, echoes that forecast, with the extended range suggesting the quiet will linger into the last days of November.
While the Atlantic Hurricane Season officially ends on November 30, tropical storms and hurricanes have existed in December in past years. 1822, 1878, 1887, 1925, 1936, 1951, 1953, 1954, 1962, 1965, 1970, 1975, 1984, 1989, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, and 2013 all had tropical storms, subtropical storms, and/or hurricanes; some years also had tropical depressions that didn’t develop further into tropical storms.
