Climate Change Packs Twice as Many Storms Into Hurricane Season
The heavy part of the Atlantic hurricane season won’t start for another week, and there have already been 11 named storms.
Satellite view of Tropical Storm Josephine approximately 1900 miles from the US coast, on Aug. 14, 2020.
Source: NOAA
Atlantic hurricane records go back to 1851, and in all that time the ocean has never piled up so many storms in such a short span as this year.
So far 11 storms have formed since May. This is now the earliest date on record for a storm with a “K” name, after meteorologists identified Tropical Storm Kyle on Friday. Five have hit the U.S., and the current pace eclipses 2005 when a record 28 storms, including Hurricane Katrina, roared out of the Atlantic. While 2020 storms have been weak, the lack of fierceness won’t come as a relief to anyone in New York or the Northeast who lost power for the better part of a week after Hurricane Isaias.