2017 Atlantic Hurricane Season Recap: One for the Record Books | WeatherBug
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2017 Atlantic Hurricane Season Recap: One for the Record Books

November 3, 2020
By WeatherBug's Rebecca Huff
Meteorologists can finally take a breath of fresh air after this busy Atlantic hurricane season. A total of 17 named storms churned across the Atlantic this year, keeping tropical forecasters on their toes.

An average of 14 named storms were forecast by several government agencies, professional companies and university experts for this year, but Mother Nature had plans to top that number. The hurricane season of 2017 will go down in the books as one of the most memorable years for tropical weather in the Atlantic Ocean with 17 named storms, and five of those storms reaching major hurricane (Category 3 or above) status. 

Although the official hurricane season started on June 1, Tropical Storm Arlene formed on April 19, about a month and a half before the usual beginning. The last time a named storm formed that early was 14 years ago in 2003. Arlene made no threats to U.S., as it stayed far out in the Atlantic waters.

June and July were a piece of cake compared of the latter part of the season. The months’ cyclones never reached past tropical storm status as Bret, Cindy, Don and Emily churned across the warm waters of the Atlantic. The only tropical storm to make U.S. landfall was Tropical storm Cindy. Cindy was the first tropical cyclone to make landfall in Louisiana since 2012, when Category 1 Hurricane Isaac made landfall. Cindy was quite weak on the wind scale as the highest sustained winds reached 60 mph for exactly one minute.  Just before landfall, Cindy began looking more disorganized and was the best-case scenario for those in Louisiana.

The hurricane season began to ramp up in August. The first half of the month remained relatively quiet with Emily only reaching Tropical Storm status, until Category 1 Hurricane Franklin formed just north of Venezuela. Franklin managed to make two landfalls; the first in Quintana Roo, southeast of the Yucatan, Mexico, and the last one in Veracruz, Mexico, before drifting off into the eastern Pacific.  Hurricane Gert intensified quickly into a Category 2 but remained far off in the central Atlantic with no threat to land.

Many across the nation now shutter as they hear the name, “Hurricane Harvey.” Harvey made landfall in southeast Texas as a Major Category 4 hurricane on August 26. This storm was the first major hurricane to make landfall in the U.S., since Hurricane Wilma back in 2005. The 130 mph winds were not what made Harvey such an intense storm, however. The atmospheric conditions forced this storm to sit for several days and drop catastrophic, never-before-seen flooding in the city of Houston and much of eastern Texas. More than 60 inches of rain fell –yes, that is 5 feet of rain -- in Texas which broke the record for the amount of rain dropped from a tropical cyclone in the United States. The damage has been estimated at $198 billion.

Just as Harvey made landfall, a tropical wave, soon to be called Major Hurricane Irma, was forming just off the West African Coast. Hurricane Irma strengthened into the first Category 5 Hurricane since Matthew in 2016. Irma’s wind peaked at 185 mph, remained at Category 5 status for 75 hours and was the strongest storm in the Atlantic outside of the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico on record. The eyewall of the major hurricane crossed over several Caribbean Islands including Antigua, Barbuda, Saint Martin and Ragged Island of the Bahamas. During the night of September 8, Irma barreled across the northern coast of Cuba as a Category 5 Hurricane before weakening north of La Teja and Varadero and making a right hand turn toward Florida. Just as it had been downgraded to a still very strong Category 3 hurricane, Irma made landfall in the Florida Keys before making a second landfall on the western side of Florida in Marco Island on Sunday, September 10. Irma caused more than $64 billion in damage before dwindling across the eastern half of the U.S.

Luckily, Mother Nature granted the U.S. a break for a while as Category 4 Hurricane Jose stayed well away from land, Category 2 Hurricane Katia formed and dwindled quickly after making landfall north of Tecoluta, Mexico and Category 3 Hurricane Lee, stayed far in the central Atlantic.

With the short break, forecasters were able to rest up for the 10th most intense Atlantic hurricane on record, also known as Category 5 Hurricane Maria. Maria formed in the central Atlantic before quickly strengthening into the beast it was. The hurricane made a direct landfall in Puerto Rico on September 20, packing 155 mph, Category 4 strength, winds making it the strongest storm to hit the island since 1928. Puerto Rico was the only major island affected by Maria, causing catastrophic damage before it tracked well offshore of the continental U.S. Maria racked up more than $51 billion in damages to Puerto Rico, completely obliterating the island.

The 2017 hurricane season quickly dwindled after Maria, with Category 1 Hurricane Nate being the last storm to hit the continental U.S. this season. Nate made landfall in Mississippi on October 8 before quickly becoming disorganized over land.

Category 3 Hurricane Ophelia was a part of the group of storms that had no threat to U.S., but Ophelia was known for something else. Ophelia is now known as the easternmost Atlantic major hurricane on record as it strengthened into a Category 3 major hurricane just Southeast of The Azores. On October 16, Ophelia made landfall as a post-tropical storm in The Republic of Ireland. Winds gusted at 119 mph at Fastnet Rock in County Cork in southwestern Ireland, before Ophelia dissipated quickly as it made its way through the republic.

The season ended on a quiet note with only two tropical storms, Philippe and Rina. Philippe was a minor nuisance to the southern tip of Florida while Rina stayed far away from U.S. soil.

Image: Non-operational GOES-16 Hurricane Harvey image. Source: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center from Wikipedia Commons.