2020 Hurricane Season Had One Fewer U.S. Landfall Than Previously Thought

Meteorologists at the National Hurricane Center (NHC) completed a review of data for Marco and found that it did not officially make landfall as a tropical storm at the mouth of the Mississippi River in extreme southeast Louisiana on Aug. 24, 2020.

In a report released Wednesday, the NHC said, "data from stations at the Southwest Pass of the Mississippi River suggest that the actual wind and pressure center stayed just south of those stations and that landfall did not occur."

Marco was originally determined to have made landfall based on satellite imagery showing its low-level cloud swirl over land, the NHC said.

Landfall only happens if the center of a tropical depression, tropical storm or hurricane crosses the coastline. A storm can still bring impacts to the land even if landfall never occurs.

In the case of Marco, the impacts from rain, wind and storm surge were minor along the northern Gulf Coast. That's because the tropical storm was succumbing to hostile upper-level winds as it turned westward just south of the Lousiana coast.

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Another recent example of a significant post-season change is Hurricane Michael from 2018.

Michael was originally deemed a high-end Category 4 when it made landfall along the Florida Panhandle, on Oct. 10, 2018. A post-season review released the following spring increased its intensity to a Category 5 landfall.

U.S. Still Set a Landfall Record in 2020

The U.S. still had a record-breaking 11 named storm landfalls in 2020.

The previous record for most U.S. landfalls in a season was nine set in 1916, according to Dr. Phil Klotzbach, a tropical scientist at Colorado State University.

At least one named storm made a U.S. landfall each month from May through November, beginning with Bertha in South Carolina and ending with Eta in Florida.

Six of the U.S. landfalls were from hurricanes: Hanna, Isaias, Laura, Sally, Delta and Zeta. That's well above the average of one to two hurricane landfalls per year, according to NOAA's Hurricane Research Division.

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