Jim Williams Nov 30th,2021
With all the talk each hurricane season about how many named storms there will be or how much accumulated cyclone energy will be generated what mainly matters is where they will go, will they hit land & where?
The database here at hurricanecity.com list’s 139 cities/islands in the Atlantic basin as evenly spread out as possible. If any of these locations were impacted by a named storm with 40+ mph it counts as an impact even as post tropical. So how did this past hurricane season compare to the extremely active 2020 season which had 30 named storms?
This year the Atlantic basin churned out 21 named storms during the 21 season how ironic. Out of those 21 named storms 10 impacted one or more of the 139 locations or 47.62%. Now compare this to 2020 with 30 named storms had a higher percentage of impacts 17 or 56.67% of all storms impacted land. The 2020 hurricane season also had far more hurricane impacts especially on the U.S mainland than 2021 did.
Of the 10 impacts in 2020 half caused significant disruptions to everyday life which is really what matters considering the entire hurricane season which runs from June 1st through November 30th.
The most impactful hurricanes of 2021 were.
Hurricane Elsa early false alarm.
Hit the Windward islands on July 2nd with 85mph winds 743 roofs damaged. Database impacts: Dominica, Martinique, St Vincent brushed. Barbados, St Lucia, St Vincent hit.
Biggest tease
Hurricane Henri moved towards eastern Long Island and weakened to a tropical storm as it moved in on August 22nd but still caused significant damage & power outages in the N.E.
Database impacts: Southampton LI ,Providence R.I, Cape Cod MA TS hit.
The biggest hit & story of the season.
Hurricane Ida hitting S.E Louisiana on August 29th with 150mph winds causing extreme damage and massive power outages. Database impacts: Caymans TS br, Havana ,Cienfuegos CU br, Isle of youth, CU hit. Morgan city,LA ,Bay St Louis, Biloxi, Pascagoula MS all br, Grand Isle, New Orleans LA hits.
For many of the impacted areas in Red courtesy of poweroutage.us they were without power for several weeks.
Typical September recurve.
Hurricane Larry hit eastern Newfoundland with 75mph winds on September 11th causing wide spread power outages. Database impacts: St Pierre NF, br , St Johns NF hit.
Packed a punch over small area.
Hurricane Nicholas hit the upper Texas coast on September 14th with 75mph winds causing a large amount of power outages. Database impacts: Pt O’Connor ,Galveston, Pt Arthur all TS, Freeport TX hurricane hit.
Widespread power outage as a result of Hurricane Nicholas but most power was restored rather quickly.
Hurricanecity coverage of hurricanes in 2021
Looking back on the 2021 hurricane season there was one major headliner hurricane Ida which slammed S.E Louisiana on August 29th with 150mph winds. After the 2010 hurricane season it became clear that the way we would cover hurricanes had to change. Showing live streaming chaser feeds and webcams on the traditional “hurricane warning shows” became increasingly difficult due to copyright issues. With live streaming technology as well as the ability to stream to several media platforms at the same I decided it was time to hit the road and cover the hurricanes as in person as they hit. Since that time I have produced live video from hurricanes Matthew, Irma, Michael, Sally, Delta and this past season Hurricane Ida. This was a difficult hurricane to intercept as the track kept shifting east and the storm surge threat was forecast by the National Hurricane Center to be catastrophic in the areas I needed to be. This is where we use our remote live cell tower capable streaming cams which worked perfectly in 2020 capturing storm surges in Sally & Delta. My home base for Ida was in Morgan City Louisiana which turned out to be beneficial and having power post landfall. I traveled to Houma, Louisiana where the town was expected to go underwater and the eye was forecast to hit. I set up my one cam to work with on this trip , the other cam never made it due to fedex not arriving in time. I found a row of mobile homes across from the Heliport in S.E Houma and decided to strap the remote cam I had to a pole along side the mobile homes. Not only was I expecting these homes to get destroyed but the surge was supposed to come up to about the height of the cam around 10ft.
As it turned out the power pole I attached the cam to got blown over in the wind. As you can see in this video the 3rd mobile home from the camera which was blocked by the others got blown to pieces. Towards the end of the video I drive through the impacted areas showing the heavy damage.
Half way through the hurricane warning show the remote cam captures the home being destroyed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiOP2cPXscI
Each year following the season the National Hurricane Center will release final reports on each system. We won’t know how many died & total damage amounts for 2021 until sometime in the spring, but one thing for certain is that 2021 was quieter than 2020. Indications are for damage totals to exceed $60 billion dollars for all storms which is higher than last years total because of Ida damage. If you live in S.E Louisiana where Hurricane Ida hit, the season was devastating and it will take some of these areas years to recover. Where they go matters thank you for your support & I’ll see you next hurricane season which starts on June 1st. ..Jim Williams