By The Numbers: 2010/09/29
- With today's designation (and rapid dissipation) of the very-wet Nicole as a tropical storm, the 2010 hurricane season stands at a pretty remarkable 14-7-5. To put that into perspective, that's just three named storms behind what 2005 (which ended with 27) had on this date, three behind 1933 (21), and just one behind 1995 (20). Finishing up the season at the same distance behind those years would give us, respectively, 24, 18, or 19 named storms. That's assuming a direct linear comparison, of course; if we use to-date ratios instead, we'll finish with--again respectively--22.24, 17.29, or 18.67 named storms. It's safe to say, then, we should end the season with at the very least 17 named storms--and seeing as many as 22 is not out of the question.
- Further proof that this should be one of the busiest Atlantic hurricane seasons ever: 2010 is eight named storms ahead of where 2009--a very anemic year tropical cyclone-wise--was on this date. Yet even 2009 managed to squeeze out three more named storms after this date, and even tying that meager amount would give 2010 a total of 17 named storms...a very busy season indeed.
- With Nicole, that's eight named storms for the month of September, tying a record set in 2002 and met again in 2007. (As noted here previously, 2002 had its eighth named September storm by the 21st, and that was it for the season; an El Niño kicked in after that. 2007 had two more storms after September, one in October and another in December.)
- Combining August's four named storms with September's eight makes for--obviously--12 named storms in the two month period, a very rare event. For example, in the past 15 seasons (that is, during the current "active" period that begain in 1995) the average August/September tally has been 8.1, with a high of eleven (in 2000, 2002, and 2004) and a low of one (in 1997). Even 2005--the busiest season on record, and one which ended with 27 named storms--had but ten over August and September.
- Over the past 15 seasons, five have seen more storms form in October than in September: 1995 (3 and 4), 1996 (2/3), 1997 (1/2), 2001 (4/5), and 2005 (5/6). Over that same span, two seasons have seen the same number of storms in each month: 1999 with three apiece, and 2009, with two. The remaining years had, as climatology dictates, more September storms than October storms.
- With Nicole, 2010 has seen the formation of 11 named storms in a 39-day period, or one every 3.55 days, or about every 85 hours, 5 minutes, and 30 seconds (how's that for a stat?)
- With Matthew, 2010 saw the formation of ten named storms in a 33-day span (that's one every 3.3 days, or roughly every 79 hours, 12 minutes). That beats the oft-touted 1995 "hyperactive" span of ten storms in 35 days by a full two days.
- Beginning with Danielle's formation on August 22nd, there has been a named storm active on all but four days of the aforementioned 39 days. (The National Hurricane Center has issued advisories on 37 of those same 39, including those for tropical depressions and post- or extra-tropical systems.)
- Since our last update, Lisa and Matthew, and Nicole have exited the stage. Here are their final numbers:
LISA
ACE: 3.6175
HDP: 0.9125
Initial TWO: 5AM EDT 2010/09/21
Final Tropical TWO: 11PM EDT 2010/09/25
TWOs as TS: 16 (96 HOURS / 4.0 days)
TWOs as HU: 2 (12 HOURS / 0.5 days)
TWOs as MH: 0
Total TWOs: 13 (78 hours / 3.25 days)
MATTHEW
ACE: 1.3750
HDP: 0.0
Initial TWO: 5AM EDT 2010/09/23
Final Tropical TWO: 11AM EDT 2010/09/25
TWOs as TS: 8 (48 HOURS / 2.0 days)
TWOs as HU: 0
TWOs as MH: 0
Total TWOs: 8 (48 hours / 2.0 days)
NICOLE
ACE: 0.1225
HDP: 0.0
Initial TWO: 11AM EDT 2010/09/29
Final Tropical TWO: 11AM EDT 2010/09/29
TWOs as TS: 1 (6 HOURS / 0.25 days)
TWOs as HU: 0
TWOs as MH: 0
Total TWOs: 1 (6 hours / 0.25 days)
- 2010 Season rundown (June 1st through current):
Number of days total: 120
Number of days with at least one active named storm: 48 (40.0% of total)
Number of days with at least one storm at hurricane status: 28 (23.3%)
Number of days with at least one storm at major hurricane status: 11 (9.2%)
Number of days with multiple active named storms: 23 (19.2%)
Number of days with multiple storms at hurricane status: 6 (5.0%)
Number of days with multiple storms at major hurricane status: 2 (1.7%)
- When Lisa suddenly and unexpectedly became a hurricane on the evening of the 24th, there was some discussion as to whether that was the farthest east a storm had ever reached that status. That talk quickly vanished when it was found that a hurricane becoming so that far east wasn't unprecedented at all. For the record, the storm that formed nearest to the Cape Verde Islands actually became a hurricane while in the archipelago: 1892's Hurricane Five. And 1948's Hurricane Six became a hurricane just south of the islands. (Of course, the all-time leader for easternmost hurricane was 2005's Vince, while the farthest east Atlantic tropical cyclone to form was 1973's Christine, which became a TD at 14.0W...that is, while still over Africa.
Thanks for stopping by, visitor 
!
--Jim Pettit (aka Neapolitan)
Reader Comments
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Oh, sorry: it's Hurricane Destruction Potential--ACE that's accumulated while a storm is a hurricane.
I can relate to the pie graph.
Number of days with a major hurricane: 11
That's kind of surprising. But I guess there were multiple-major days, and I guess you are counting only the days with major status and not the total days in the life of each major we've seen this year.
Thanks for the info.
Mod.
(image removed)
@Barefootontherocks: Thanks for the kind words. Yes, you are correct about the numbers on major hurricane days; I've made changes to the entry to reflect what I intended, so I appreciate the input. Pie-chart-wise, I find it very telling that Nicole's microscopic sliver--just 1/346th as large as Igor's huge wedge--doesn't even show up on the web-friendly image I posted above. Oh, yeah: love the hat!
@oleClegs. You're welcome. Please be sure to check back for future updates.
@KittieCane: You're very welcome, too... ;-)
short and right to the point
Thanks
blsealevel
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