2015 Hurricane Season Wrap-Up and Recap

It’s now December 1, it means that the Holidays as arrived, and of course, the end of the 2015 Hurricane Season, both the Atlantic and Pacific.


So the question here, what do people think about the Hurricane Season of 2015. Most likely...

Photo Courtesy of Astronaut Scott Kelly (October 23, 2015)

Hurricane Patricia and it’s record breaking winds peak and pressure drop. But let’s talk about the entire season from top to bottom.

Let’s start with the Atlantic because this was a surprising, yet another quiet year for the tropics. Although a strong El Nino was forecasted for the Winter months and already have an effect with tropical cyclones, it was quite surprising.

The Atlantic for the 2015 Season has a total of 12 storms, with 11 being named, 4 of them Hurricanes, and 2 of them to reach Cat. 3 or Higher, which of course, talking about Hurricanes Danny and Joaquin.

Photo Courtesy of NASA (May 9, 2015)

The 2015 Atlantic Season started off to an early start when Tropical Storm Ana formed of the Southeast Coast of the United States in May. Of course, it was a Subtropical Storm before turning into a full on Tropical Storm, hitting the Carolina coast, the earliest landfall since Beryl in 2012.

Photo Courtesy of The Weather Channel

As for yours truly, faced my first Tropical Storm since moving to the Lone Star State six years ago when Tropical Storm Bill lashed trough Texas, already ravaged by the floods on Memorial Day Weekend. Of course, it was...meh.

Photo Courtesy of Wikipedia

What is surprising is Danny when it became the season’s first Major Hurricane of the 2015 season in just matter of hours. Of course, that fizzled out when nearing the Lesser Antilles. Which of course, lead to Tropical Storm Erika devastating the islands with Dominica being the hardest hit with heavy rain, even though the Caribbean was in a drought. Which prompted Florida to put on panic mode when forecasted to hit the Sunshine State as a Category 1 Hurricane, but like Danny, fizzled out.

Photo Courtesy of NOAA

What really stole the show for the Atlantic is Hurricane Joaquin, lashing the Bahamas for 2-3 days before heading off. The Northeast haven’t seen a hurricane threat since 2012 when Hurricane Sandy makes landfall in New Jersey. Which prompted a State of Emergency for New Jersey, Virginia, and the Carolinas. Of course, the Northeast dodged a soon to be repeat of Sandy. However, South Carolina did receive moisture from Joaquin, which lead to a flood problem. Something that the state haven’t seen for a really long time, and I mean a really LONG time. Before all of y’all were born. Of course, thoughts and prayers go to the victims of this historic flood.

All and all, this season for the Atlantic was quiet, yet surprising with 11 Named Storms, 4 Hurricanes, and 2 Majors. The names for the 2015 Season was recycled from the 2009 Season, but 2009 was a quiet season, so no names were retired in that year. These names will be recycled to the 2021 Season unless a name or two gets retired. We’ll wait for Spring 2016 to find out.


That was it for the Atlantic, time for the Pacific...

​The Pacific, Eastern and Central, 26 Named Storms, 16 Hurricanes, 11 Majors. In my book, the 2015 Pacific Season may have outshine the other past seasons. ​First off, 30 Storms across the Pacific, tied with the 1992 Season. 16 Hurricanes, tied with the 1990, 1992, and the 2014 Seasons. 11 Majors, broke the record with a high number of Major Hurricanes, beating out the 1992 Season, that has 10 Major Hurricanes. 9 Times, that’s a number of times he state of Hawaii dodged a bullet.

Photo Courtesy of NASA

Hurricane Kilo, or in this case, Typhoon Kilo, almost trailing Hurricane John’s record on being the longest living cyclone in the Pacific, missing Hawaii, crossing the International Dateline as a Hurricane turning into a Typhoon, targeting Japan but missed as it weakened. Hitting Russia as Post-Tropical.

Photo Courtesy of NOAA

Speaking of Hurricanes in the Central Pacific, August 30, Kilo, Ignacio, and Jimena, all Category 4 Hurricanes at the same time, first time that ever happen seeing all three Major Hurricanes in the same area.

Photo Courtesy of Astronaut Scott Kelly (October 23, 2015)

Flash forward to late October when all hell broke loose when Hurricane Patricia broke a lot of records when nearing a collision course towards Mexico. Patricia reached wind speeds of 200 mph, the highest any cyclone can go since satellite ever began, beating Allen in 1980 with 190 mph winds. But it’s not just that, Patricia beat Wilma for fastest intensification on record, beating Linda (1997) for being the strongest in the Eastern Pacific, beating Allen for top wind speed, and beating out the 1959 Mexico Hurricane for landfall at 165 mph. Patricia fell short for causing devastating damage and numerous fatalities, outshining Katrina, but after the storm made landfall, there were little damage and zero deaths. Of course, the remnants of Patricia reached to Texas, which caused more problems for Texas, still reeling from the major flooding they received back in May.

Photo Courtesy of NOAA

And most recent, Hurricane Sandra became the strongest this late in the season as it reached to Cat. 4 strength before died off nearing Mexico. And for a second there when the name “Sandra” was given, thought it was going to be a repeat of Patricia, just be thankful that it isn’t.

All and all, the Eastern and Central Pacific was something alright, probably needed to be in the “historic” category in my book. Of course, you already know El Nino played a part in the Pacific Season. So, that’s it for the 2015 Hurricane Season Wrap Up, what are your thoughts on this season? And will you be prepared for the 2016 Season? That’s it, have a safe Winter out there, or Summer if you live in the Southern Hemisphere, and see you guys in 2016, and I will be proactive this time.