PEMBROKE PARK, Fla. – It’s one of our favorite days of the year in South Florida: Nov. 30 means we have officially made it to the end of the Atlantic hurricane season.
While South Florida was spared anything major — and the season faded away quietly — remember that this was actually one of the busiest years for storm activity on record in the Atlantic.
There were 14 tropical storms, seven hurricanes and eight landfalls in the United States.
We made it! It's the last day of hurricane season. We're starting our 6 month break until the 2022 season. pic.twitter.com/Uhz4ZPBIkY
— Brandon Orr (@BrandonOrrWPLG) November 30, 2021
The strongest storm was Hurricane Sam, which nearly reached Category 5 status back in September and peaked with maximum sustained winds of 155 mph. Thankfully, it stayed out over the open water.
Category 1 Hurricane Elsa was the closest call for South Florida in July, remaining just west of Key West, and Category 4 Hurricane Ida was the costliest as it made landfall in the New Orleans area from the Gulf of Mexico in late August and then moved all the way up to New England.
While experts will remind that strong storms can happen outside of the official season, we now have six months until the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season begins on June 1.
2021: 3rd busiest hurricane season on record, behind 2020 and 2005. It was a swarm of storms, but then abruptly shut down in mid-late OCT. Sam was strongest, but stayed to sea. Ida was costliest. Our closest was Elsa, which made a close pass as a tropical storm after weakening pic.twitter.com/kuWGqTIhtL
— Luke Dorris (@lukedorrisWPLG) November 30, 2021