Atlantic hurricane season ends, ranked fourth in most named storms since 1950

MIAMI – The Atlantic Hurricane Season ended Thursday, Nov. 30 with a historic amount of named storms, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The Atlantic had 20 named storms in 2023, which NOAA said ranks fourth since 1950. The average season has 14 named storms.

Of those, seven were hurricanes and three were major hurricanes.

The season made it through storm names A through T.

Throughout the season, there was only one hurricane that made landfall in the U.S., which was major Hurricane Idalia in August as a category 3. Idalia rammed into the Florida Big Bend region near Keaton Beach.

Tropical Storm Ophelia was another storm that made landfall in the U.S., on Emerald Israel, North Carolina.

Hurricane Lee was another major hurricane. It did not make landfall in the U.S., but in Nova Scotia, Canada in September.

NOAA said the Climate Prediction Center’s predicted ranges aligned with the season’s activity.

“The Atlantic basin produced the most named storms of any El Nino influenced year in the modern record,” said Matthew Rosencrans, lead hurricane forecaster at NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center. “The record-warm ocean temperatures in the Atlantic provided a strong counterbalance to the traditional El Nino impacts.”

In May, NOAA will issue a hurricane seasonal outlook for the coming hurricane season beginning June 1.