AmbergrisCaye.com Home Forums Talk Belize Weather Tropical Storms & Hurricanes The 2021 Atlantic hurricane season is officially over

There were 21 named storms this season, qualifying it as a busy one. The average number of storms in any given year is 14, according to NOAA.

In 2021 hurricane forecasters used up all the storm names for a second year in a row, with Tropical Storm Wanda rounding out the list. However, October and November were noticeably quiet. Of this year's 21 named storms, seven became hurricanes, which is right on average, and four of those (Grace, Ida, Larry and Sam) strengthened into major hurricanes, which are Category 3 or stronger storms. (The average number of major hurricanes is three.)

One of those major hurricanes, Category 4 Ida, devastated southeast Louisiana with top winds of 150 mph on Aug. 29, 2021. Ida killed at least 32 people along the Gulf Coast and then 53 in the Northeast after incredible flash flooding. Grace made landfall on Mexico's Gulf Coast on Aug. 21, and Sam and Larry thankfully stayed out at sea.

However, several other storms made landfall in the U.S.

The U.S. coastline was also struck by Tropical Storm Claudette (Louisiana), Tropical Storm Danny (South Carolina), Elsa (Florida), Tropical Storm Fred (Florida), Hurricane Henri (Rhode Island), Tropical Storm Mindy (Florida), and Hurricane Nicholas (Texas). While those certainly made an impact, they were much weaker systems.

Ida was close enough to Alabama that it put forecasters on edge, especially coming less than a year after Hurricane Sally, which made landfall on Sept. 16, 2020, at Gulf Shores. Sally was a strong Category 2 hurricane with top winds of 105 mph. In 2020 Alabama also had to deal with the effects of Hurricane Zeta, a Category 3 storm that made landfall in Louisiana but quickly swept across south Alabama in late October, bringing widespread power outages and wind damage.

"Fortunately for Alabama, the direct impacts for Alabama were nowhere near what they were in 2020, but there were some impacts from a couple of storms, namely Claudette and Ida," said Jason Beaman, the warning coordination meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Mobile.

"Fortunately, Ida was a close call but was far enough away that we did not experience the core impacts from the hurricane that Louisiana did. It's interesting: It's another active Gulf year. We had seven systems make landfall from the Gulf of Mexico, and that's including Mexico. But fortunately, locally, our impacts were not near what they were in 2020."

Both Ida and Claudette caused coastal flooding in Alabama, as well as beach erosion, high surf and rip currents. The two storms also brought bouts of heavy rain to parts of south Alabama. Ida's outer bands also produced a few tornadoes.

Ida also served as a reminder that things could have been much worse -- the Alabama coastline has been luckier than many in the past few years, even with Sally in the mix.

"I don't want to take anything away from Sally. Sally was maybe not a major hurricane meteorologically, but it was a major hurricane impact for the area," Beaman said. "But having said that, these other hurricanes have shown that stronger winds are out there, a higher storm surge is out there and we just have to make sure we are in a constant state of readiness for these potential threats. We hope that they don't happen, but we need to be prepared for them to happen.

"I think that for coastal Alabama just the realization that we had a high-end Category 4 hurricane that made landfall just to our west that really devastated southeast Louisiana. Michael a few years prior was a Category 5 hurricane that just missed us to the east. A high-end Category 4 and a Category 5 very close to our region … I think it's a reminder that as strong and as bad as Sally was, it's not the worst-case reasonable scenario for our area. A higher-end hurricane is certainly possible, history shows us that, and it's just something we need to keep in mind with our preparations. We need to be prepared."

National Meteorological Service and the National Emergency Management Organization
JOINT PRESS RELEASE

The Closing of the 2021 Atlantic Basin Hurricane Season

Today, November 30, marks the closing of the 2021 Atlantic Basin Hurricane Season. The season officially runs from June 1 to November 30 each year and it covers tropical cyclone activity spanning the North Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea, and the Gulf of Mexico.

The 2021 Atlantic Basin Hurricane Season was forecasted to be very active. The initial prediction was for there to be 13 to 20 named storms, and of those, six to 10 were expected to become hurricanes and three to five were expected to become major hurricanes (Category 3 or stronger).

The 2021 season turned out to be an active season as it pertains to the number of named storms forming. A total of 21 named storms formed. However, as it relates to the total number of hurricanes, the season could be considered as a normal season where seven hurricanes formed. A total of four of those hurricanes became major hurricanes. It is worth noting that, even though more named storms than usual developed during the first four months of the season, the last two months were extremely inactive with only one system forming in October and none forming in November.

Table 1 below summarizes the 2021 Atlantic Basin Hurricane Season and compares this season's activity with that of the 2020 season and the 30-year average. Of note is that this is only the third season on record in which all the 21 pre-approved names from the list were exhausted. Additionally, this is the first time on record that this has occurred in two consecutive years (2020 and 2021).

The two main factors that supported the above normal 2021 Atlantic Hurricane Season were:

(1) No El Niño occurred during this season, therefore, this factor did not contribute to the suppression of tropical cyclone activity in the Atlantic Basin; and

(2) Warmer than average sea surface temperatures during the peak of the season in the tropical Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which favoured tropical cyclone development.

Belize was not significantly affected by any of the systems that formed during this season so, from a local perspective, the season may be perceived as inactive. The nearest landfalling system to the country was Hurricane Grace which made landfall near Tulum, Mexico, as a category one hurricane.

While today marks the closure of the 2021 Atlantic Basin Hurricane Season, history teaches us that systems can form outside of the season. The National Meteorological Service and the National Emergency Management Organization (NEMO) encourage everyone to undertake a review of their 2021 hurricane plan, to see where their weaknesses and shortfalls were so that they can be better prepared if the need arises in 2022. NEMO further advises the public, schools, churches, statutory bodies, businesses, and government ministries to start planning their key emergency preparedness activities for 2022, beginning the first week in January. Target issues such as drainage, roof repair, building construction, considering flood, hurricane, and earthquake, overgrown trees near power lines, sources of emergency water, emergency means of communication, micro-insurance to transfer risks, crop diversification, drought, extreme weather events, emergency kit, monthly stockpiling of small amounts of food with long shelf life, and an updated emergency plan. We thank the people who serve. Be prepared, stay alert, disasters can occur at any time.

The staff at the National Meteorological Service will continue to do their utmost best to disseminate reliable information in a timely and user-friendly manner to the public in the case of any weather-related emergency. The service remains committed to its mission of keeping the Belizean public well-informed of any weather or climatic event that may affect their well-being and/or the sustainable development of the nation.


The Atlantic Hurricane Season Comes to an End
Belize has been spared from hurricanes and major storms during this Atlantic Hurricane Season. The season ends today, and has been summed up as a very busy six months for the region overall. The closest a hurricane came was Grace that affected neighbouring Mexico. The Met Office today shared its post-season assessment.