As 2019's Hurricane Season Winds Down, Here Are 7 of the Craziest Things We Saw

Through Nov. 4, the Atlantic has produced 17 named storms, of which, six strengthened into hurricanes. That's above the 1981-2010 average of 12 named storms per year and equals the average of 6 hurricanes per year.

Here are some of the oddities that occurred as those storms moved through the Atlantic basin.

Barry's Formation Came From a Great Plains Thunderstorm Complex

Tropical Storm Barry's development in the Gulf of Mexico in early July was memorable for what triggered its formation.

Clusters of thunderstorms in the Plains around the Fourth of July formed an area of low pressure a few thousand feet above the ground, what meteorologists call a mesoscale convective vortex.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) then flagged this disturbance on July 6 when it was over Tennessee and said it had a chance of tropical development when it moved southward over the Gulf of Mexico. It's rare for a system so far inland to be a concern for possible tropical development.

When the disturbance moved over the Gulf, its spin and moisture helped spawn Tropical Storm Barry on July 11. Barry then briefly strengthened into a hurricane just before making landfall in Louisiana on July 13.

Dorian Becomes a Category 5 at the Worst Possible Time

September began with Hurricane Dorian making a catastrophic strike on the northwestern Bahamas.

Dorian was already a powerful Category 4 on Aug. 30, when hurricane warnings were issued for the northwest Bahamas.

Dorian's maximum sustained winds jumped from 150 mph to 185 mph in 12 hours early Sept. 1. That increase in winds coincided with Dorian's landfall on Great Abaco Island.

Dorian's 185 mph winds at landfall tied the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane in the Florida Keys as the strongest landfalling hurricane in the Atlantic Basin.

Dorian's impacts in the Bahamas were worsened because the storm slowed to a craw and its eyewall lashed the northwestern Bahamas for 51 straight hours. You can see its full track by clicking the play button below.

Imelda's Rapid Escalation Causes a Billion-Dollar Flood Disaster

Tropical Storm Imelda proved once again why a potent hurricane is not required for disastrous impacts.

Imelda formed from an area of disturbed weather in the Gulf of Mexico that the NHC tracked for a low chance of tropical development Sept. 14-16.

The situation quickly escalated on Sept. 17 as the disturbance developed an organized area of low pressure near the coast of Texas and was designated Tropical Depression Eleven by the NHC at 12 p.m. CDT. Roughly 45 minutes later, the system was upgraded to Tropical Storm Imelda and made landfall 15 minutes later at 1 p.m. CDT.

Imelda then meandered through southeast Texas where it brought extreme rainfall that caused major flooding. Rainfall totals in a few spots topped 40 inches.

Imelda's floodwaters caused at least $1 billion in damage, according to NOAA. Many thousands of homes, cars and businesses were inundated.

Lorenzo Becomes the Atlantic's Easternmost Category 5

Lorenzo rapidly intensified from a Category 3 with winds of 115 mph to a Category 5 with winds of 160 mph just 12 hours later while centered at 24.1 degrees north latitude and 45 degrees west longitude.

That is by far the farthest east in the Atlantic Ocean any of the previous 35 Category 5 hurricanes have occurred in records dating to the 1920s.

Lorenzo eventually moved near the Azores in the northeast Atlantic as a Category 1 where it brought damaging winds and storm surge.

Nor'easter Spawns Melissa

Melissa got its start as a nor'easter.

The nor'easter began to impact the Eastern Seaboard on Oct. 9 before it gradually transformed into Subtropical Storm Melissa on Oct. 11. A subtropical storm has characteristics of both a tropical storm and a non-tropical low pressure system such as a nor'easter.

Melissa then became more organized and was deemed a tropical storm on Oct. 12.

For several days, both the nor'easter and Melissa brought gusty winds, coastal flooding, pounding surf and beach erosion to the East Coast, from New England to the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

Short-Lived Olga Brings Surprising Burst of High Winds to Southeast Louisiana

Olga existed as a tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico for just hours, but its remnants still packed a punch in southeast Louisiana.

The National Hurricane Center declared Olga was a post-tropical cyclone just six hours after it was named on Oct. 25. That means it no longer had the characteristics of a tropical storm because it was overtaken by a cold front.

Gusty winds were forecast in southeast Louisiana from Olga's remnants, but the winds were stronger than anticipated. Wind gusts of 40 to 70 mph were clocked in southeast Louisiana on Oct. 26, knocking out power to more than 100,000 and also downing trees.

Olga also produced a narrow area of damaging winds from parts of Mississippi into western Tennessee, western Kentucky and southern Louisiana.

Pablo Becomes a Hurricane in a Weird Location

Hurricane Pablo became the sixth Atlantic hurricane on Oct. 27 in an unusual location.

Pablo strengthened into a hurricane at 11 a.m. EDT on Oct. 27 at 42.8 degrees north latitude. That's near the same latitude as Boston on the U.S. East Coast.

Only one other storm since 1950 reached hurricane intensity at a farther north latitude, according to Tomer Burg, an atmospheric science Ph.D. student at the University of Oklahoma. That was an unnamed hurricane in 1971 which formed at 46 degrees north latitude, Burg said in a tweet.

Pablo was also the farthest east an Atlantic storm has first become a hurricane, according to Dr. Phil Klotzbach, tropical scientist at Colorado State University. Pablo intensified into a hurricane 18.3 degrees west latitude.

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