31 What are the most and least tropical cyclones occurring in the Atlantic basin and striking the USA?
Description
This article is from the Storms FAQ, by Chris Landsea landsea@aoml.noaa.gov with numerous contributions by others.
31 What are the most and least tropical cyclones occurring in the Atlantic basin and striking the USA?
Starting in 1944, systematic aircraft reconnaissance was commenced for
monitoring both tropical cyclones and disturbances that had the potential
to develop into tropical cyclones. This is why both Neumann et al. (1993)
and Landsea (1993) recommend utilizing data since 1944 for computing
climatological statistics. However, for tropical cyclones striking the
USA East and Gulf coasts - because of highly populated coast lines,
data with good reliability extends back to around 1899. Thus, the
following records hold for the entire Atlantic basin (from 1944-1996) and
for the USA coastline (1899-1996):
Maximum Minimum
Tropical storms/hurricanes: 19*(1995) 4 (1983)
Hurricanes: 12 (1969) 2 (1982)
Intense Hurricanes: 7 (1950) 0 (many times,1994 last)
USA landfalling storms/hurricanes: 8 (1916) 1 (many,1991)
USA landfalling hurricanes: 6 (1916,1985) 0 (many,1994)
USA landfalling intense hurricanes: 3 (1909,33,54) 0 (many,1994)
(*) As a footnote, 1933 is recorded as being the most active of any
Atlantic basin season on record (reliable or otherwise) with 21 tropical
storms and hurricanes.
Below is a table with individual years for the numbers of named storms
(tropical storms and hurricanes) - NS, named and subtropical storms -
NS&Sub, hurricanes - H, hurricane days - HD, and intense hurricanes - IH:
Atlantic basin tropical cyclone data:
Year NS NS&Sub H HD IH
1944 11.00 11.00 7.00 27.00 3.00
1945 11.00 11.00 5.00 14.00 2.00
1946 6.00 6.00 3.00 6.00 1.00
1947 9.00 9.00 5.00 28.00 2.00
1948 9.00 9.00 6.00 29.00 4.00
1949 13.00 13.00 7.00 22.00 3.00
1950 13.00 13.00 11.00 60.00 7.00
1951 10.00 10.00 8.00 36.00 2.00
1952 7.00 7.00 6.00 23.00 3.00
1953 14.00 14.00 6.00 18.00 3.00
1954 11.00 11.00 8.00 32.00 2.00
1955 12.00 12.00 9.00 47.00 5.00
1956 8.00 8.00 4.00 13.00 2.00
1957 8.00 8.00 3.00 21.00 2.00
1958 10.00 10.00 7.00 30.00 4.00
1959 11.00 11.00 7.00 22.00 2.00
1960 7.00 7.00 4.00 18.00 2.00
1961 11.00 11.00 8.00 48.00 6.00
1962 5.00 5.00 3.00 11.00 0.00
1963 9.00 9.00 7.00 37.00 2.00
1964 12.00 12.00 6.00 43.00 5.00
1965 6.00 6.00 4.00 27.00 1.00
1966 11.00 11.00 7.00 42.00 3.00
1967 8.00 8.00 6.00 36.00 1.00
1968 7.00 8.00 4.00 10.00 0.00
1969 17.00 18.00 12.00 40.00 3.00
1970 10.00 10.00 5.00 7.00 2.00
1971 13.00 13.00 6.00 29.00 1.00
1972 4.00 7.00 3.00 6.00 0.00
1973 7.00 8.00 4.00 10.00 1.00
1974 7.00 11.00 4.00 14.00 2.00
1975 8.00 9.00 6.00 21.00 3.00
1976 8.00 10.00 6.00 26.00 2.00
1977 6.00 6.00 5.00 7.00 1.00
1978 11.00 12.00 5.00 14.00 2.00
1979 8.00 9.00 5.00 22.00 2.00
1980 11.00 11.00 9.00 38.00 2.00
1981 11.00 12.00 7.00 23.00 3.00
1982 5.00 6.00 2.00 6.00 1.00
1983 4.00 4.00 3.00 4.00 1.00
1984 12.00 13.00 5.00 18.00 1.00
1985 11.00 11.00 7.00 21.00 3.00
1986 6.00 6.00 4.00 11.00 0.00
1987 7.00 7.00 3.00 5.00 1.00
1988 12.00 12.00 5.00 21.00 3.00
1989 11.00 11.00 7.00 32.00 2.00
1990 14.00 14.00 8.00 27.00 1.00
1991 8.00 8.00 4.00 8.00 2.00
1992 6.00 7.00 4.00 16.00 1.00
1993 8.00 8.00 4.00 10.00 1.00
1996 13.00 13.00 9.00 45.00 6.00
Mean from 1950 - 1990
9.34 9.78 5.83 23.69 2.17
Standard Deviation
4.24 4.51 3.15 17.37 1.81
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