Hurricane season ends today after 'crazy busy' season with record damage

The 2024 Atlantic hurricane season comes to a close today, bringing to an end a season that saw 11 hurricanes compared to the average seven, and death and destruction hundreds of miles from where storms came ashore on the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Meteorologists called it a “ crazy busy ” season, due in part to unusually warm ocean temperatures. Eight hurricanes made landfall, in the U.S., Bermuda, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Grenada.

Hurricane Beryl became the first Category 4 hurricane on record to form in the month of June, slamming into the island of Carriacou in Grenada. In Jamaica it left two dead. The last time the island was scraped by a Category 4 hurricane was Dean in 2007, making it “pretty rare,” said Brian McNoldy, a hurricane researcher at the University of Miami. The storm then intensified into the earliest Category 5 hurricane ever in the Atlantic on July 1. Major hurricanes — Category 3 and above — are not usually seen until September 1, according to the National Hurricane Center.

In September, Hurricane Helene caused catastrophic damage across the southeastern U.S. and was the deadliest storm to hit the U.S. mainland since Katrina in 2005. More than 200 people died. North Carolina estimates the storm caused at least $48.8 billion in direct or indirect damages with houses, drinking water systems and farms and forests destroyed. Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia also sustained extensive damage.

In October, Hurricane Milton rapidly intensified and the storm’s maximum wind speeds hit a screaming 180 mph, making it one of the strongest hurricanes by wind speed ever recorded in the Gulf of Mexico. The only one stronger by that measure was Hurricane Rita in 2005.

The areas where Helene and Milton struck saw as much as three times their usual rainfall for September and October, the heart of the Atlantic hurricane season. For Asheville, Tampa and Orlando, the two-month period was the wettest on record.

In November, Hurricane Rafael reached 120 mph and was nearly the strongest November hurricane on record in the Gulf of Mexico, tying with Hurricane Kate in 1985. Rafael made landfall in Cuba and battered the island as it was trying to recover from widespread blackouts caused by Hurricane Oscar in October.