Tropical Storm Arlene Was Only the Most Recent Oddity in the Atlantic Basin | The Weather Channel
The Weather Channel

We've seen a number of strange things in the tropical Atlantic Ocean the past five years.

By

Jon Erdman

April 21, 2017




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Tropical Storm Arlene is only the latest example of some rather strange happenings with tropical storms and hurricanes in the Atlantic Basin over the past five years.

(MORE: Hurricane Central)

Not only was Arlene a rare April tropical storm, but it formed farther north earlier in the calendar year than any other Atlantic tropical storm of record.

(MORE: What Happened the Last Time an April Tropical Storm Formed)

Here are several other weird things we've noticed going back to the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season.

2016

Thanksgiving Hurricane in Central America

  • Hurricane Otto was the latest hurricane landfall on record in the Atlantic Basin, occurring on Thanksgiving Day.
     
  • Otto was the southernmost landfall on record in Central America and the only known hurricane to move over Costa Rica.


Infrared satellite image of Hurricane Otto making landfall in southeast Nicaragua on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 24, 2016.


Infamous Matthew Peaks Near Colombia

  • Matthew was the southernmost Category 5 hurricane on record in the Atlantic Basin, fewer than 100 miles north of the Colombian coast.



A May Landfall

  • Bonnie soaked the Carolinas, making landfall along the South Carolina coast on Memorial Day Weekend 2016.

A January Hurricane, and a Landfall

  • Alex became just the second hurricane on record to form in the Atlantic Basin during the month of January. The last hurricane that formed in the Atlantic during January was in 1938, according to NOAA's historical hurricane tracker database.
  • Alex was also the first hurricane to occur in the Atlantic in January since Alice in 1955. Alice initially formed into a hurricane on Dec. 31, 1954, but then remained a hurricane into early January 1955.
  • Alex became the strongest January hurricane on record (estimated 85 mph winds).
  • Alex made landfall on the island of Terceira in the central Azores with maximum estimated sustained winds of 65 mph.



2015

A Mother's Day Landfall


The west end of Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina, experienced flooding from Tropical Storm Ana on May 10, 2015.

(Greg Agee/Facebook)


2014

Bermuda Back-to-Back

  • Two hurricanes made landfall on the 20-square-mile archipelago within six days in mid-October.
     
  • Bermuda had never been affected by two hurricanes so close together in time, let alone had both of them make landfall.


Hurricanes Fay (left) and Gonzalo (right) near Bermuda in mid-October 2014.


2013

Slumbering Season

  • The first time since 1982 only two hurricanes formed all season.
     
  • The first hurricane didn't form until Sept. 11 (Humberto), just three hours short of the longest wait on record for the first hurricane of the season, which was set in 2002.
     
  • Neither hurricane reached Category 2 strength, the first time no single hurricane had reached that intensity over an entire season since 1968.


The lone two hurricanes of the 2013 Atlantic hurricane season.


2012

Sandy's Track, Massive Size and Snow


Sandy made landfall on Oct. 29, 2012 about 5 miles southwest of Atlantic City, New Jersey, as seen in this infrared satellite image.

(NOAA)


A Three-Week Scribbling Odyssey

  • Nadine persisted as a tropical or subtropical cyclone for just over 21 days from mid-September through early October, the fifth-longest-lived Atlantic named storm at the time.
     
  • Given its meandering, haphazard path, Nadine affected the Azores twice, producing gusts to 50 mph in localized areas each time.



Season's First Hurricane, in June, Really Far North

  • Hurricane Chris became the 2012 season's first hurricane at 41 degrees north latitude – farther north than New York City – on June 21.
     
  • Only a single 1893 hurricane was farther north as a hurricane in June than Chris.


Origin points of Atlantic June named storms 1950-2011, with the plot of 2012's Hurricane Chris.


Two Preseason Storms, One Almost a Hurricane

  • Tropical storms Alberto, then Beryl formed before the "official" start of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season, the first time that had happened since 1908 (1887 was the other year).
     
  • Two preseason storms would happen again four years later in 2016 (see above).
     
  • With maximum sustained winds of 70 mph, Beryl was the strongest tropical cyclone to make a pre-June 1 U.S. landfall on record.


The track of Tropical Storm Beryl in May 2012 (white line), with radar-estimated rainfall totals (contours).


(MORE: The 35 Strangest Weather Events I've Seen in My Lifetime)

Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been an incurable weather geek since a tornado narrowly missed his childhood home in Wisconsin at age 7. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter.

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Hurricane Ian slammed ashore in southwest Florida at Category 4 intensity on Sept. 28, 2022. Its peak surge of over 15 feet and wind gusts to 140 mph leveled much of Fort Myers Beach and Sanibel Island. Ian produced record inland flooding in the Florida Peninsula, including near Orlando, that would last for weeks. Ian was the costliest hurricane on record to hit Florida. Ian later made a second landfall in South Carolina, spreading storm surge and high winds from northeast Florida to the Carolinas. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)