Most unusual/strangest hurricane seasons?

[zal0phus]

What would you consider some of the weirdest or most unusual hurricane seasons?
Criteria could include the number or intensity or paths of storms. For me, 2001, 2004, 2016, and 2019 stick out. This year too, to an extent.

[ElectricStorm]

1914 and 2013

[CyclonicFury]

2020 has to be up there. Named storm spam but so far the storm quality and duration is far less than a typical hyperactive season. 2020 could legitimately reach the Greek alphabet with less than 150 ACE.

[DestinHurricane]

Recently:

2010 - recurve rucurve recurve recurve recurve recurve recurve
2013 - just trash
2014 - more trash
2015 - even more trash.
2020 - just plain weird

[SconnieCane]

Recently:

2010 - recurve rucurve recurve recurve recurve recurve recurve
2013 - just trash
2014 - more trash
2015 - even more trash.
2020 - just plain weird

Joaquin made 2015 worthwhile, coupled with the low expectations going into the "Super-Nino" season; but that's just me.

2011 and 2012 were odd to me as well, each with one notable East Coast hit, neither technically a "major" hurricane at landfall (one not even technically a tropical cyclone) but both certainly "major" in their impacts.

[DestinHurricane]

Recently:

2010 - recurve rucurve recurve recurve recurve recurve recurve
2013 - just trash
2014 - more trash
2015 - even more trash.
2020 - just plain weird

Joaquin made 2015 worthwhile, coupled with the low expectations going into the "Super-Nino" season; but that's just me.

2011 and 2012 were odd to me as well, each with one notable East Coast hit, neither technically a "major" hurricane at landfall (one not even technically a tropical cyclone) but both certainly "major" in their impacts.

Yes 2011 and 2012 were odd too. Hurricane irene and post tropical cyclone sandy both impacted areas that are not well prepared for a hurricane.

[sma10]

1992 should definitely get a mention as a very unusual season. One completely bonkers, off the chart storm surrounded by a dearth of trash.

[ClarCari]

2005 for having a crazier July and October combined than August and September combined. 4 majors vs 3; and 12 named storms vs 10. July had two major Caribbean long trackers and October had Wilma (nuff said) and even Beta.

[supercane4867]

1981

*Nearly all meaningful storms beautifully and swiftly recurved OTS
*A bunch of clustered TDs in the western gulf and also two in the Caribbean
*The season totaled 22 depressions 12 named storms 7 hurricanes and 3 majors. I bet at least half of those TDs would receive a name today.

[Hammy]

Aside from the obvious 2013, as well as 1997 for not having anything in August despite a large gyre similar to this year (you'd think something would've come from it, even during a Nino year), there's a few that stand out for having strangely quiet Septembers:

1990 had only 2/1/0 (Gustav was a Cat 2 carryover but only lasted to the third)--one was Cat 2 Isidore at the start, and TS Josephine at the end, with no named storms (and only a depression) forming between the two, spanning 17 days in the middle of the month.
1991 had 3/1/1 in the first third and then literally nothing, not even a depression, tracked after the 11th.
1992 didn't see a single storm develop before the 18th followed by four storms developing within days--all in the subtropics--with nothing in the MDR
1994 had only two short-lived storms at each end of the month and nothing tracked from Sep 11-24
1996 had a major at each end of the month, but again nothing formed between, so Sep 5-24 seeing no new systems develop
2007 is still a season I can't make sense of--two Cat 5's in the Caribbean in late August and early September followed by a 2013-esque season most of the rest of the year for no apparent reason--7 storms during September after Felix, but most of them weaker and short lived, and the three hurricanes being only Cat 1 for about six hours each, followed by nothing until the end of October
2008 similarly having no new storms between Josephine (Sep 3) and Kyle (Sep 24)

2015 was unusual for the opposite reason--massive El Nino but quite a lot of storms managed to develop in the MDR despite the shear

2016's disjointed activity was also bizarre--another very quiet September with Hermine being a hurricane on the first two days, and Matthew on the last two days--with only four low to moderate tropical storms as well as frustrating Karl between, and nothing from Sep 4-12--followed by three consecutive majors in October and November.

[Hurricaneman]

1992 should definitely get a mention as a very unusual season. One completely bonkers, off the chart storm surrounded by a dearth of trash.

You could put 1965 in the same category

[HurricaneEnzo]

1997. Came out of the gates on fire looking like a possible hyperactive season even in the face of an el-nino then proceeded to fall flat on its face during peak season.

1992. Might as well call this one the 'Hurricane Andrew' season.

1996. Pretty unique season for me personally. Having Bertha come through to be followed by Fran a few weeks later. As a child this was really my 'introduction' to Hurricane impacts as these are the first storms I specifically remember going through. Ended up getting 2 in one season.

2007. Monster Cat 5s Dean and Felix and not much else. Oddly enough the last real powerhouse storms we have had traverse the Caribbean.

[Ryxn]

One that hasn't been mentioned

2002: Had 9 out of its 12 total storms (75%) form in a 4-week period (August 29 - September 26).

2004: Hyperactive with 15 named storms. No storms in June and July followed by 8 storms in August (5 of them H, 3 of them MH) and 4 storms in September (all of them H, 3 MH) but 2 week short-lived tropical storms in October by comparison and a weird out of nowhere tropical storm at the end of November. Talk about no consistency. All thanks to the Modoki El Niño. Crazy 227 ACE for 14 storms (16.2/storm avg.) compared to 36ACE for 13 storms (2.8/storm avg.) in 2013.

2005: For obvious reasons

2014: Very low for named storms (8) but average for hurricanes (6) and near average for major hurricanes (2) and ACE which was much higher than 2013 (13 storms) and higher than 2015 (11 storms)

2017: Just simply EXPLODED. Five consecutive weak short-lived tropical storms followed by 10 consecutive hurricanes (6 of MH and many long-trackers) then back to 2 weak short-lived tropical storms. This is what I call drug use.

2018: Very lackluster August (2 TS) followed by a bonkers September named storms and ACE wise with 7 storms and 4 of them occurring simultaneously for a time. Also birthed 2 named storms that lasted for more than 15 days (Florence and Leslie [non-consecutive]) and ended with a freak out of nowhere CAT 5 landfall in northwest Florida and Oscar.

2019: Weird ratio of sole tropical or subtropical storms with 12 and HALF of them existing for no more than 2 days (Andrea, Fernand, Imelda, Nestor, Olga, and Rebekah) and 3 for less than 24 hours (Andrea, Nestor, and Olga). In contrast it had Dorian and Lorenzo both exist at Cat 5 in September and 16 out of 18 named storms (89%) forming on or after August 20 with 7 of them in September again like 2018 gave. And about Lorenzo again, it is SUPER out of place as far as Cat 5 tracks are concerned with it being the easternmost one. And finally Pablo attaining Cat 1 status so far north and east was insane (it was north of Azores!!).

2020: For known reasons...

[CyclonicFury]

This one hasn't been mentioned, but 1961 is interesting. Had a hurricane in July, followed by a completely dead August and then a hyperactive September to November (which had 3 storms by itself). It finished with over 200 ACE.

1962 has some similarities to 2013 in a way. There was no El Nino present, and I remember running some NOAA PSL plots that suggested below-average shear, a favorable velocity potential configuration, and a strong West African Monsoon. Despite this, the season was very quiet with no major hurricanes.

1994 is odd. Only one hurricane in August and no hurricanes in September, but a very busy November with 2 hurricanes that had more ACE than any other month in the season!

1969 is also a fascinating season. While the season is remembered mostly for Camille, it was a very active season with many erratic storms later in the season such as Inga, Kara, Laurie (which had a track shaped like a ribbon) and Martha.

[AnnularCane]

1994 is odd. Only one hurricane in August and no hurricanes in September, but a very busy November with 2 hurricanes that had more ACE than any other month in the season!

I actually wonder if the active period might have really started in late 1994, with the unusual activity in November of all months, and in an otherwise slow season.

[Hurricaneman]

1994 is odd. Only one hurricane in August and no hurricanes in September, but a very busy November with 2 hurricanes that had more ACE than any other month in the season!

I actually wonder if the active period might have really started in late 1994, with the unusual activity in November of all months, and in an otherwise slow season.

And an IMO eastern seaboard hurricane with my reanalysis of 80kts off the Carolinas around Christmas

[Ryxn]

1967: 29 tropical depressions, second only to 2005. Twenty-one of them never strengthened past TD, a record. Record 4 tropical cyclones in June (all TDs) and a record 10 tropical cyclones in October (7 TDs). Three storms; Chloe, Beulah and Doria simultaneously existed for around 2 weeks accumulating 46 tropical cyclone days within 17 calendar days. Mic drop.

[Ryxn]

1950: Had 6 consecutive hurricanes of at least 105mph (C2) intensity (4 MHs) form within 4 weeks (August 14 to September 11). And it had 9 tropical storms exist in October with a record 8 forming within the month.

[Shell Mound]

If one were to brutally honest, nearly every season is “odd”—that is, anomalous—in one way or another. There is usually some oddity somewhere.

[Ryxn]

Expanding on what I wrote for 1967, the whole 14-year period from 1967 to 1981 featured an unusual amount of tropical depressions that failed to attain tropical storm status with the exceptions of 1969 and 1980. The trend dies down in the 80s as seen.

Below is the number of tropical depressions per year that did not strengthen to tropical storms. Bolded are years with more than 5 systems below tropical storm strength.

1966 and earlier: All 5 or less with the exceptions of 1956 (6 TDs), 1954 (7), 1944 (7), 1938 (6), and 1922 (9)
1966: 2
1967: 21
1968: 6
1969: 2
1970: 8
1971: 9
1972: 12
1973: 16
1974: 9
1975: 14
1976: 11
1977: 10
1978: 12
1979: 17
1980: 5
1981: 10
1982: 3
1983: 3
1984: 7
1985: 3
1986: 4
1987: 7
1988: 7
1989: 4
1990: 2
1990 onward: All 5 or less