Records shattered as historic 2024 Atlantic hurricane season ends
Beryl and Milton were historic monsters. Helene was a deadly tragedy. This year’s Atlantic hurricane season was one for the record books
This year’s Atlantic hurricane season officially ends on Saturday. It’s been an unusual and historic year across the basin, which saw several scale-topping storms and one of the deadliest hurricanes in modern history.
Here’s a look back at the records and devastation we saw across the Atlantic this year, and how the season compares to previous busy hurricane seasons.
DON’T MISS: ‘ACE’ is the best way to measure a hurricane season’s ferocity
An extremely active season finally ends
Forecasters were deeply concerned about this year’s potential. All outlooks called for an above-average season, with the risk for high-end activity that would rival the busiest Atlantic hurricane seasons on record.
We saw 18 named storms this year. 11 of those storms grew into hurricanes, and five of those hurricanes strengthened into major hurricanes of Category 3 intensity or stronger. A typical season produces 12 named storms, seven hurricanes, and three major hurricanes—so by that metric alone, this was an above-average season.
This was also quite the year in terms of accumulated cyclone energy (ACE), which takes into account a storm’s strength and longevity. An average Atlantic hurricane season produces an ACE value of 122.5. This year saw an ACE of 161.6—meeting the criteria for an extremely active hurricane season.
But we did have a historic lull in activity during the heart of the season. Most of this year’s activity formed in big bursts at the beginning of summer and the middle of autumn.
Two historic Category 5 monsters
The season got off to a roaring start with Hurricane Beryl at the end of June. Beryl shattered a handful of records during its extraordinary trek into the Caribbean Sea, including:
The earliest hurricane ever observed in the tropical Atlantic Ocean (June 29)
The earliest Category 4 hurricane ever observed in the Atlantic (June 30)
The earliest Category 5 hurricane ever observed in the Atlantic (July 1)
The first major hurricane to strike the Windward Islands in July
Beryl went on to strike the Texas coast as a Category 1 hurricane several days later, becoming the first of five hurricanes—Beryl, Debby, Francine, Helene, and Milton—to strike the Gulf Coast throughout the season. This tied the hyperactive 2005 and 2020 hurricane seasons as the second-most hurricanes to ever strike the Gulf Coast in one year, according to hurricane expert Dr. Brian McNoldy.
RELATED: How a mammoth hurricane rapidly intensifies in mere hours
Beryl wasn’t the only scale-topping hurricane we saw this year. Hurricane Milton achieved one of the swiftest intensification rates ever observed in a tropical cyclone anywhere in the world when it moved over the steamy Gulf of Mexico in late October.
Milton started the day on Oct. 7 as a Category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 145 km/h. Just 12 hours later, by 1:00 p.m., the hurricane achieved Category 5 intensity with maximum winds of 280 km/h—nearly doubling its ferocity in half a day.
The hurricane would peak at Category 5 strength twice during its life, weakening a bit before making landfall near Tampa, Florida, on Oct. 9. Milton was the first major hurricane to directly strike the Tampa metro area in nearly 100 years.
WATCH: How a hurricane can gather strength with frightening speed
Helene was one of the deadliest on record
After an unusual lull in the season, Hurricane Helene spun up and hit the Florida coast as a powerful Category 4 storm on Sept. 26. But its damage and devastation continued for hundreds of kilometres inland from the point of landfall.
Helene’s tragic flooding across western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee was the result of a unique setup that draped the region ahead of Helene’s arrival.
A deep plume of tropical moisture flowing ahead of Helene fuelled days of flooding rains before the hurricane arrived.
Hurricane Helene’s moisture-laden core then brought more torrential downpours to the region’s soaked soils. Some communities saw rainfall totals exceed 750 mm—sparking deadly floods that killed more than 200 people.
Multiple high-end tornado outbreaks
Several of the hurricanes that made landfall this year produced an unusually high number of tornadoes as they pushed inland.
Tornadoes are common in landfalling tropical cyclones. Thunderstorms embedded within a system’s outer bands can tap into strong wind shear to produce quick but dangerous tornadoes.
SEE ALSO: Tropical tornadoes are a hidden danger in landfalling storms
The remnants of Hurricane Beryl spawned dozens of tornadoes from Texas to New York, including two confirmed twisters in southern Ontario.
Hurricane Milton produced a historic tornado outbreak across Florida as it pushed across the peninsula in the middle of October. Crews with the U.S. National Weather Service confirmed 46 tornadoes across Florida, including three destructive EF-3 tornadoes. This was Florida’s largest single tornado outbreak on record.
What’s next?
While the season officially ends on Nov. 30, it’s possible—but unlikely—that we’ll see additional storm activity in the Atlantic through the month of December. The last time a storm formed in December was back in 2013.
Forecasters will monitor key regions throughout the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans for signs of what’s to come during the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season. Expect to see the first outlooks issued by next spring.
It’s likely that one or more of this year’s hurricane names will warrant retirement by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The agency will consider retirements names at its next meeting in early April. If and when any names are retired, the replacement names will be used when this year’s list is reused during the 2030 Atlantic hurricane season.
Header image courtesy of NOAA/CIRA.
