November 30th is the last day of the Atlantic Hurricane Season. Hurricane Season runs from June 1st to November 30th. This is the climatological time when the majority of tropical activity occurs in the basin (although there has been some debate in recent years about moving the start to May 15th, in response to developing systems before June 1st in recent years).
2023 was a very busy years, despite being an El Nino year which typically features less systems. The record warm Atlantic ocean is believed to have helped create the above average year. We saw 20 storms, with 2 impacting our area. Idalia – the only hurricane to hit the US this year made landfall in FL and then moved along the NC coast bringing some impacts to the OBX and NE NC. Later in the season, Ophelia made landfall as a 70 mph Tropical Storm near Emerald Isle, NC. The rain and wind moved north, and a tornado even touched down in Perquimans County.
So overall, for us, thankfully a pretty minor year but who knows at this time what next year will hold. Always a good idea to be prepared. Below I’ve listed the 2024 names – two new names, which replaced Florence and Michael from 2018.
