Hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean:

Overview

Table of contents:

Introductionpage: 3

Atlantic Hurricane Season 2008: Conditions page: 5 Time of Activity page: 6 Landfalls page: 7 Damage page: 9 ACE count page: 10 Records page: 11

Appendix page: 13Sources page: 14

Impact after Hurricane Ike in the United States

Introduction:

In this summary I am going to tell you about the heavy hurricane season 2008 in the Atlantic Ocean. This season was a very active one and the hurricanes have damaged a lot of areas around the West area of the Atlantic Ocean. The expectations of this season were far below the real measures of hurricanes of the season. They anticipated a season with 13 named storms, 7 hurricanes and 3 major hurricanes. This information was released by the CSU (the Colorado State University). In reality there were named 16 storms (and one tropical depression which never get named), 8 hurricanes and 5 mayor hurricanes.

Hurricane Gustav on his way to Jamaica.

Atlantic Hurricane Season 2008:

This map shows the tracks of the Hurricanes of season 2008.

Conditions:

This picture shows the condition for the season of 2008. As you can see, the meteorologists could almost predict where the paths of hurricanes went. The red area is very favourable for arises of hurricanes. But the blue area is very unfavourable for arises of hurricanes. The arrows show the trade winds which are very important for the hurricanes tracks.

During the season the conditions became even better and more hurricanes and tropical storms formed in the Atlantic Ocean. At one time even 4 storms where active at the same time. (Gustav, Hanna, Ike and Josephine) This never happened before and we can conclude that the conditions on that time where ideal for hurricanes to develop. Also the tropical waves from the coast of Africa caused 2 Cape Verde storms: Bertha and Josephine. Further the conditions were so ideal that a major hurricane formed in the month of November, when everybody thought the season was over. In a couple of days Cuba was hit again by a major hurricane. The conditions were so ideal that in every month a major hurricane was born. This was in the months of July, Augustus, September, October and November.

Time of Activity:

The activity of hurricanes was very special this season. Not only 4 storms where active at the same time, but we also had a major hurricane at the end of the season! On the table here below I will show the dates that the hurricanes were active. If you want to know more about the hurricanes, I refer to my summaries about each hurricane.

Month: Storm:May: ArthurJune: ArthurJuly: Bertha

CristobalDolly

August: EdouardFayGustavHanna

September: GustavHannaIkeJosephineKyleLaura

October: LauraMarcoNanaOmar

November: Paloma

These colours represent the strength of the hurricanes:

Category:Tropical DepressionTropical StormHurricane Category 1Hurricane Category 2Hurricane Category 3Hurricane Category 4Hurricane Category 5

As you could see on the table, the most activity was measured in the month of September with 6 named storms, 2 tropical storm, 4 hurricanes and 2 major hurricanes. This table gives us an impression of the activity during the season and with this we can conclude that the activity during the season was above normal. But this will be discussed in a later chapter about the ACE of this season.

Landfalls:

The landfalls of the hurricanes as well as the tropical storms of this season can be seen in the table here below. In total there were 31 landfalls. A landfall means that the eye of a tropical storm or hurricane comes ashore.

Belize:Name: Strenght: Data:Arthur Tropical Storm 31 May

Canada:Name: Strenght: Data:Kyle Category 1 28 September

Cuba:Name: Strenght: Data:Fay Tropical storm 15 AugustGustav Category 4 30 AugustIke Category 3 7 SeptemberPaloma Category 3 8 November

Dominican Republic:Name: Strenght: Data:Fay Tropical storm 15 August

Haïti:Name: Strenght: Data:Gustav Tropical storm 26 August

Guatamala:Name: Strenght: Data:Dolly Tropical storm 21 July

Jamaica:Name: Strenght: Data:Gustav Tropical storm 26 August

Mexico:Name: Strenght: Data:Dolly Category 2 23 JulyMarco Tropical storm 7 October

United States:Florida:Name: Strenght: Data:Fay Tropical storm 19 August (4 times)

Louisiana:Name: Strenght: Data:Edouard Tropical storm 5 AugustGustav Category 2 1 September

Texas:Name: Strenght: Data:Dolly Category 2 23 JulyEdouard Tropical Storm 5 AugustIke Category 2 13 September

South/North Carolina:Name: Strenght: Data:Hanna Tropical storm 6 September

Only 3 Hurricanes came ashore as a major hurricane. But when the storms moved further onto the ocean they became stronger and the impact was even greater.

Damage:

This season was one of the costliest seasons after the hurricane season of 2005. This is caused by the heavy hurricanes how reach pour countries and high populated areas. The table below will show the damage by every named storm which came at land.

Name: Category: Damage in Million Dollars:

Causalities:

Arthur Tropical storm 78 9Bertha Category 3 hurricane - 3Cristobal Tropical storm - 0Dolly Category 2 hurricane 1520 22Edouard Tropical storm 0.25 6Fay Tropical storm 180 36Gustav Category 4 hurricane 8300 138Hanna Categorie 1 orkaan 160 537Ike Category 4 hurricane 31500 164Josephine Tropical storm 0 0Kyle Category 1 hurricane 23 6Laura Tropical storm 0 0Marco Tropical storm - 0Nana Tropical storm 0 0Omar Category 4 hurricane 96 2Paloma Category 4 hurricane 2090 1Total: 43947.25 924Round off: 44 billion dollar 924 causalities

The yellow area shows the highest category and the most damage and last but not least the highest causalities. Hurricane Hanna made the most causalities in Haiti. This was caused by heavy rainfall and floods and because Haiti is a poor land, a lot of people died because they had no money to leave the area they lived. Hurricane Ike had the highest ACE count and cost an enormous amount money due to the damage in the United States. If Ike was only 1 category higher (with a difference of only 5 kilometres) the impact would have been even greater than when Hurricane Katrina hit the same area 3 years earlier.

ACE count:

The ACE count is a number for the measure of the strength of a hurricane. This number is given to each hurricane of a season. The numbers all together give us a estimate of the activity of a season. These numbers define if the season is normal or hyper active. The table below will show the difference between each stage.

ACE count: Classification:0 till 70 Below normal70 till 100 Normal100 till 150 Above normal150 > Hyperactive

The season of 2008 was a season with an ACE count of 143 and is classified as an above normal season. The numbers do not represent the total of hurricanes of a season but the strength they had. So a season with only 10 hurricanes, and of the 10 hurricanes, with also 5 major hurricanes, this season could still be an above normal season or even a hyperactive season. As you look to the season of 2005, the ACE count was 248 and classified as a hyperactive season. This season was not a hyperactive season, but still a very strong season and rare season.

The table shows the activity of this season by every hurricane. The number represents the ACE. As you can see, Ike had the highest ACE count of this season. Ike was also the biggest hurricane ever measured in the Atlantic Ocean. The diameter was so wide, that Ike became the biggest hurricane ever measure in the Atlantic Ocean. Ike was also on the 3rd place with the highest costs of damage in a landfall.

Hurricane Ike on peak of intensity.

Name: ACE count:Ike 39.0Bertha 28.4Gustav 18.4Hanna 10.4Paloma 9.90Omar 7.67Fay 6.72Kyle 5.43Dolly 5.36Cristobal 3.81Josephine 3.07Edouard 1.70Marco 1.32Laura 0.863Arthur 0.773Nana 0.490

Records:

The season of 2008 was a season with a lot of records made by the hurricanes. In this chapter I am going to tell about all the records which were made in the Atlantic Ocean in the season of 2008. I’ll tell about the records of every hurricane. If a hurricane or tropical storm is not listed, than it made no records this year.

Bertha: Earliest Cape Verde major hurricane Longest living hurricane ever measured in the Atlantic Ocean Longest living hurricane in July in the Atlantic Ocean Most eastern hurricane ever seen in the Atlantic Ocean On the 7th place for wettest hurricane in Bermuda On the 6th place for the most devastating hurricane in August

Dolly:

On the 2nd place for the most devastating hurricane in July in the United States

Strongest hurricane in July which made a landfall in Texas

On the 4th place for costliest hurricane in Texas (1.2 billion dollar)

Fay: The most landfall for a tropical storm (she made a

landfall 4 times) On the 3rd place for the highest ACE for a tropical

storm

Gustav: On the 6th place for a hurricane with the biggest

diameter

Ike: Biggest hurricane ever seen in the Atlantic Ocean.

(biggest diameter) Highest Integrated Kinetic Energy ever measured.

This means that Hurricane Ike was the most devastating hurricane in history

The highest rainfall ever measured in Ontario

Marco: Smallest tropical storm ever measured in the Atlantic Ocean

Paloma: One of the 7 hurricanes ever measured in the Atlantic Ocean which were active in

November On the 2nd place for strongest hurricane in November

Of course this season had some common records. On this page I am going to tell about that. I’ve put the records in a table so we can see what the hurricane season of 2008 brought us.

Records: Most hurricane active on the same day (Gustav, Hanna, Ike and Josephine In ever month a major hurricane (July, August, September, October and November On the 3rd place for costliest season ever! On the 4th place for busiest season ever!

This season was a season with a lot of records, and this made the season of 2008 a very special season. After the hurricane season of 2005, this season is on the second place of this century.

Tropical Storm Fay making Landfall to Florida.

Appendix:

This summary gives a good impression about the hurricane season 2008 and I hope you’ve enjoyed this summary. If you want to know more about every tropical storm and of course the hurricanes of this season, I refer to my summaries about each tropical storm and hurricane. This is a great collection about the season. This summary is just a supplement to the collection of summaries about each tropical storm and hurricane of the season of 2008!

Hurricane Ike on his way to Cuba

Sources:

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/imagerecords/35000/35347/ike_amo_2008254_lrg.jpghttp://www.fema.gov/photodata/original/38891.jpghttp://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2008/images/hurricanetracks.jpghttp://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2008/images/hurricaneconditions.jpghttp://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/?2008242-0829/Gustav.A2008242.1825.2km.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Atlantic_hurricane_seasonhttp://www.fema.gov/photodata/original/38895.jpghttp://www.nasa.gov/images/content/268695main_fay_seawifs_lg.jpghttp://www.nasa.gov/images/content/268457main_fay_amo_HI.jpghttp://www.nasa.gov/images/content/272327main_ike_amo_2008251_lrg.jpg