Hurricane season ends with Bermuda little affected
Bermuda has survived another hurricane season without major damage, despite a series of close calls.
The 2023 Atlantic Hurricane Season officially came to a close yesterday.
The US National Hurricane Centre said that, including a pre-season storm, a total of 20 named storms have been recorded this year, the fourth most named storms in a year since 1950.
Of those storms, seven reached hurricane strength and three became major hurricanes.
An average season has 14 named storms, seven hurricanes and three major hurricanes.
Matthew Rosencrans, lead hurricane forecaster at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Centre, said “The Atlantic basin produced the most named storms of any El Niño-influenced year in the modern record.
“The record-warm ocean temperatures in the Atlantic provided a strong counterbalance to the traditional El Niño impacts.”
A record-breaking 10.58in of rain was recorded on the island last month, the most since records began in 1949.
According to figures from the Bermuda Weather Service, a fraction of an inch of rain on Thursday pushed the total rainfall for the month over the previous record of 10.54in set in 1962.
The unusually wet November brought year-to-date rainfall to 73.86in, putting 2023 on track to be the wettest year on record.
That record is held by 1962, when 75.42in of rain was recorded.
While the BWS has forecast a mix of sun and clouds this weekend, rain is expected to return on Monday and Tuesday.
While Bermuda was spared any direct impact, several storms passed near the island or threatened to over the course of the season.
Hurricane Franklin, the first major storm of the year, skimmed 150 miles to the island’s west on August 30 after weakening to a Category 2 hurricane, knocking out power to about 300 homes.
Franklin was followed on September 4 by Tropical Storm Idalia, which had previously hammered the United States as a major hurricane.
The storm passed around 95 miles to the island’s south-east, with more than 3,000 homes left without power at the storm’s peak.
The third major hurricane of the year, Hurricane Lee, passed by the island on September 15 as a weakened Category 1 hurricane, forcing the closure of schools and businesses.
In early October, the island again braced itself for the threat of Hurricane Philippe, which was forecast to make a direct hit on Bermuda, but the system rapidly weakened before passing about 25 miles from the island.
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