An Atlantic hurricane season with 14 named storms officially ended Wednesday, leaving residents of the Florida Keys to celebrate as others in Florida and Puerto Rico continue to grapple with the damage caused by Hurricanes Ian, Nicole and Fiona.
The number of named storms was less than expected, but one powerful storm, Hurricane Ian, caused extreme losses. This year is a harbinger of future hurricane seasons, says a report from reinsurer Munich Re.
“Especially hurricanes like Ian – very strong storms with extreme precipitation – will become more common in the future due to climate change,” Munich Re’s chief climate scientist, Ernst Rauch, said in the report.
Research shows that the total number of storms will not increase, but the planet will see an increase in severe hurricanes with heavy rainfall, he noted.
The 2022 season had an unusually quiet first half, but made up for it with the three destructive hurricanes in the second half, ending with an average number of named storms. The season runs from June 1 to November 30.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, there were eight hurricanes with winds of at least 74 mph (119 km/h) during this year’s period, and two of them intensified into major hurricanes with winds of at least 111 mph (179 km/h). you). An average hurricane season has 14 named storms, seven hurricanes and three major hurricanes, forecasters said.
Ian, which made landfall on Florida’s southwest coast on Sept. 28, is expected to incur as much as $65 billion in insured losses, not counting national flood insurance losses, Munich Re reported. That helped make 2022 the third most expensive season ever.
This season is also notable for how inactive August was. This was the first time since 1941 that the Atlantic had cleared without a storm from July 3 to late August, said Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach. Since 1950, only 1997 and 1961 had no named August storms.
Several hundred Florida Keys residents gathered on Wednesday to mark the end of the season by burning hurricane warning flags. The event included a blast on a conch shell, a symbol of the Keys, and speakers remembered those affected by the 2022 hurricanes and expressed gratitude that the Keys were spared major impact. Members of Key West’s ceremonial Conch Republic administration then doused the hurricane flags with rum and set them on fire. The event took place next to the US Coast Guard Cutter Ingham, a maritime museum docked at the Truman Waterfront in Key West.
In late September, Hurricane Ian made landfall as a Category 4 storm in southwestern Florida, killing nearly 150 and leaving a swath of destruction as it moved northeast across the state. After making its way back to the Atlantic, the storm moved north and hit South Carolina as a Category 1 storm. With maximum sustained winds of 150 mph (241 km/h), Hurricane Ian was the fifth strongest hurricane ever to make landfall in the US, officials said.
The eye of Hurricane Nicole struck the Treasure Coast area of central Florida as a Category 1 storm in early November, but the greatest damage appeared to occur more than 100 miles north around Daytona Beach, where beach erosion began by Hurricane Ian, got worse and led to houses crashing into the ocean.
Hurricane Fiona was the first major hurricane of the season, eventually becoming a Category 4 storm with winds of 130 mph as it hurtled toward Canada. The center of the storm missed the mainland U.S. but struck Puerto Rico in mid-September as a Category 1, leaving the entire island without power and killing at least 25 people.
Photo: Revelers in Key West celebrated the end of hurricane season on Wednesday by dousing hurricane warning flags with rum and setting them on fire. (Andy Newman/Florida Keys News Bureau via TBEN)
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