Globally, 12-month running averages indicate nothing out of the ordinary, either for all hurricanes or major ones
The Atlantic hurricane season has now officially ended, so let’s check the numbers.
There have been six hurricanes in total, including three major ones, Dorian, Humberto and Lorenzo. Coincidentally both numbers are the same as the average since 1950.
According to NOAA’s Hurricane Research Division, many hurricanes were missed in the earlier decades. Systematic aircraft reconnaissance began in 1944, but this only covered half of the Atlantic basin, until daily satellite monitoring started in 1966.
There has only been one US landfalling hurricane this year, Dorian which clipped Cape Hatteras as a weak Cat 1.