Milton Was America's Fifth Hurricane Landfall Of 2024. That Hasn't Happened Very Often.

Milton is the fifth hurricane to make landfall in the mainland U.S. in 2024, an impressive number that we don't see very often.

T​he previous four: It started with Category 1 Beryl, which slammed into the Texas coast in early July.

T​hat was followed by another Category 1 hurricane, Debby, which first came ashore in Florida's Big Bend region about a month later.

T​hen about another month later, Francine made a Category 2 landfall in southern Louisiana on Sept. 11.

H​elene followed with its Category 4 landfall in the Florida Big Bend on Sept. 26. It produced catastrophic storm surge at the coast as well as destructive winds and historic, devastating flooding well inland through the Southeast and southern Appalachians.

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H​ow often so many? According to NOAA's Hurricane Research Division, only eight other seasons since 1851 have had five or more hurricanes make a mainland U.S. landfall.

The record for most mainland U.S. landfalls in a season is six, which has happened three times. It last happened in 2020 (Hanna, Isaias, Laura, Sally, Delta and Zeta) in addition to 1985 and 1886.

O​n average, one or two hurricanes make landfall in the U.S. each season. One each made landfall in 2022 and 2023, and both Ian and Idalia were destructive when each slammed into Florida.

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W​hy so many landfalls this year: To illustrate why, it's useful to contrast with last season.

U​nlike last year, there isn't a strong El Niño in place this season. While 2023's strong El Niño didn't reduce the number of storms, there was sinking air over the Caribbean Sea, often a breeding ground for hurricanes that do reach the U.S.

A​lso in 2023, the Bermuda high was weak and scrunched into the eastern Atlantic Ocean. So most of the storms that did form curled north, then northeast out to sea, rather than threaten the U.S.

T​his year, without the El Niño, we've seen more storms form or track into the Caribbean Sea and/or Gulf of Mexico in an environment with less sinking air, low wind shear and, once again, record-warm water. Debby, Francine, Helene and Milton all formed in either the northwest Caribbean or Gulf of Mexico.

July's early-season record-smashing Hurricane Beryl was steered by a more expansive Bermuda high through the Caribbean Sea into the Gulf of Mexico, instead of recurving north as it may have done with a weaker Bermuda high if it happened in 2023.

Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been covering national and international weather since 1996. His lifelong love of meteorology began with a close encounter with a tornado as a child in Wisconsin. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite topics. Reach out to him on X (formerly Twitter), Threads, Facebook and Bluesky.