September is usually the peak month of the Atlantic hurricane season. But sometimes, we see something that is even off the charts by September standards.

From Sept. 25 to 27, 1998, 27 years ago, there were four hurricanes in progress at the same time over the Atlantic Basin.

Three of those hurricanes — Ivan, Jeanne and Karl — remained well out to sea in the central Atlantic Ocean.

The fourth — Hurricane Georges — was responsible for more than 600 deaths, mostly in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, as well as $11.6 billion in U.S. damage (adjusted for inflation).

Ten to 20 inches of rain, with local amounts of more than 2 feet, was dumped on southern Mississippi, southern Alabama and the Florida Panhandle. A 5- to 12-foot storm surge was measured along the northern Gulf Coast.

There have been several times with at least four active Atlantic storms at once. In mid-September 2020, there were five active storms at once, which tied a record. But not all of those were hurricanes.

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That's what made this September 1998 event so bizarre.

Four simultaneous Atlantic hurricanes have only happened one other time, on Aug. 22, 1893, according to NOAA's Hurricane Research Division.

These outbreaks of storms can happen in the peak of hurricane season when conditions are most favorable over the largest area of the Atlantic Basin. Sometimes, you can have a Gulf or Caribbean storm, a pair of storms in the central Atlantic, and one that developed shortly after moving off Africa.

Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been covering national and international weather since 1996. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite topics. Reach out to him on Bluesky, X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook.