The curtains have drawn on the 2023 hurricane season, and it's one for the books, folks. According to KXAN, with a whopping 20 named storms, this season is set to tie the knot as the fourth busiest one ever observed. But despite the flurry of activity, the U.S. coastline got off relatively light, with NOAA estimating damages at around the $3-$4 billion mark, nodding to it as the quietest smack since 2015.
Hurricane Idalia, a Category 3 beast, smacked Florida's Big Bend, causing over 80% of the season's damage. FOX 26 Houston reports that this single storm's fury cost us between $2.5 to $3 billion, predominantly washing the Gulf Coast between Tallahassee and Tampa Bay under waves of financial woes, and by comparison, as the previous year's Hurricane Ian and Nicole torched pockets with a scalding $118 billion in damage.
Three major hurricanes flexed their muscles in the Atlantic this year, but only Idalia dared to tango with the U.S. mainland. Meanwhile, Ophelia waltzed into North Carolina as a tropical storm, and Hurricane Lee, skipping a U.S. main stage appearance, still jazzed up some power outages in Maine, KXAN reported.
While El Niño tends to disrupt the hurricane dance by cutting in with wind shear, it seems the warm Atlantic waters cranked up the season's tempo despite its presence. In a typical El Niño summer fashion, the Eastern Pacific basin spun out more storms than normal, with Hurricane Otis stealing the limelight as a Category 5 headline act, shredding Acapulco as the locale's strongest landfalling hurricane.
Gazing into the crystal ball for 2024, forecasters are reading the tea leaves, and they've got their eyes on a "neutral" ENSO phase. If El Niño is the bouncer that keeps the storming party in check, its absence may open the floodgates. FOX 26 Houston spills that climate models hint at a rapidly decaying El Niño event as the 2024 hurricane season rolls up, which could mean a busier Atlantic boardwalk next year.
