Article: "busiest" season since 1944

[mitchell]

was 2008 really "busier" than 2005 by any statistically meaningful measure?

I mean there were many horrible storms, and Texas and the caribean islands certainly took repeated beatings, but this assessent just doesn't ring true for some reason...

http://www.app.com/article/20081126/NEWS/81126033

[wxman57]

The author never qualifies the word "busiest". The 1944 season wasn't far from normal, with only 11 named storms, 7 of which were hurricanes. Nothing really unusual there, perhaps with the exception that the U.S. was impacted by 3 hurricanes in 1944.

It's clear the author didn't do any research before writing this piece. The 16 named storms was above normal, but 1969, 1995 and 2003 had more than 16 named storms. But you also have to consider that the NHC is naming systems that NEVER would have been named in the 1940s-1970s, even the 1980s or 1990s. So the number count is a poor estimation of activity. Dr. Chris Landsea estimates that there may have been an additional 2-3 storms per season that were missed prior to the era of satellite.

As for the statement "The number of hurricanes matched 1944 as the fifth-most active season, according to a NOAA statement.", this is clearly wrong. There were 10 seasons since 1944 with more hurricanes than 2008.

year / # hurricanes
1949 -7
1950-11
1951-8
1954 -8
1955-9
1961-8
1969-12
1980-9
1990-8
1995-11
1996-9
1998-10
1999-8
2000-8
2001-9
2004-9
2005-15
2008-8

[Chacor]

Article now says: "Corrected: Season sets record for consecutive U.S. tropical cyclone strikes"

[wxman57]

Only a few errors were corrected. It still says "Eight hurricanes formed this year, tying 1944 for fifth place." Actually, that ties 2008 for 11th place with 6 other seasons since 1944. Not exactly that unusual - just 2 hurricanes above average.

[HurricaneJoe22]

From the South Florida Sun-Sentinel:

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/weathe ... 8492.story

[Cyclenall]

My favorite line was this:

"We had 16 named storms, some questionably named but nevertheless they were named."

The comments in response to the article are even more funny.

[mitchell]

it wasn't my imagination then ...the media seems generally incapable of reporting on tropical storms with any accurate "context"

[margiek]

Both of the articles were referencing the NOAA one:

http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2008/20081126_hurricaneseason.html

and yes it appears that "is tied as the fifth most active in terms of hurricanes (eight) since 1944" should be sixth instead, based on the most recent HURDAT. I have emailed Gerry and will probably hear back from him next week.

However, regarding tying for sixth place (8 hurricanes in the season) since 1944 -- out of the past 64 seasons, a quarter of them (17) had at least 8 hurricanes.

[jinftl]

"Busiest" is a relative concept...by that i mean, if you were under a hurricane warning and had to prepare your home and family....and quite possibly evacuate....it was a 'busy' season for you. Case in point - 1992 (a year with fewer storms than normal) - was a very busy season for south dade county as 250,000 people became homesless overnight. 1995 - an active season with # storms- wasn't.

From Dr. Jeff Masters...the following are some items that made the season 'noteable' more than anything...

Notable records for 2008

-Fourth costliest hurricane season on record ($21 billion dollars in U.S. damage, according to ISO's Property Claim Services)

-First time major hurricanes have been observed in five separate months (Bertha, Gustav, Ike, Omar, Paloma occurred in July, August, September, October, and November, respectively)

-First time six consecutive storms made U.S. landfall (Dolly, Edouard, Fay, Gustav, Hanna, and Ike).

-First time three major hurricanes have hit Cuba (Gustav, Ike, Paloma)

-Costliest hurricane in Texas history (Ike, $16.2 billion)

-Second deadliest U.S. hurricane since 1972, and 26th deadliest in history (Ike, with 82 dead)

-Highest wind gust ever measured in a hurricane over land (Gustav, 212 mph in Pinar del Rio, Cuba)

-First storm ever to make four landfalls in one state (Fay, in Florida)

-Second strongest November hurricane (Paloma, 145 mph winds)

-Smallest tropical cyclone on record (Marco)

-Longest-lived July hurricane on record, longest-lived hurricane so early in the season, longest-lived tropical storm in July and so early in the season (Bertha, which was a hurricane 7.75 days, eclipsing the previous record of 7 days held by Hurricane Emily of 2005. Bertha was at tropical storm strength for 17.25 days).

-Farthest east forming tropical storm and hurricane for so early in the season

[bvigal]

it wasn't my imagination then ...the media seems generally incapable of reporting on tropical storms with any accurate "context"

The media seems incapable of reading and comprehending. It's scary to think these people obtained college degrees in JOURNALISM! (where TRUTH or ACCURACY no longer hold any importance)

I'm glad someone posted the source, the NOAA article. One can read it, instead of the various news outlet "rewordings" and find the facts, how based. i.e., "Overall, the season is tied as the fourth most active in terms of named storms (16) and major hurricanes (five)", which is a different meaning that "either", "or".

[jinftl]

Add to it the media trying to attract viewers and readers with attention-grabbing headlines, and you have the recipe for 'skewing' the information.

"Busiest season since 1944" grabs the audience and can be used as a headline 'teaser'.

it wasn't my imagination then ...the media seems generally incapable of reporting on tropical storms with any accurate "context"

The media seems incapable of reading and comprehending. It's scary to think these people obtained college degrees in JOURNALISM! (where TRUTH or ACCURACY no longer hold any importance)

I'm glad someone posted the source, the NOAA article. One can read it, instead of the various news outlet "rewordings" and find the facts, how based. i.e., "Overall, the season is tied as the fourth most active in terms of named storms (16) and major hurricanes (five)", which is a different meaning that "either", "or".