September 10th marks the statistical peak of the 2020 Atlantic Hurricane Season and so far it’s been one for the record books.
State Climatologist Barry Keim says we’ve seen a record-breaking 17 named storms so far this year.
“If the second half of the season is a mirror image of the first then we are going to have 34 named storms. Wrap your head around that for a second,” said Keim.
Prior to 2020, the busiest first half of a season was seen in 2005, when 15 named storms formed at the halfway point. 2005 ended with a record 27 named storms, of which 14 were hurricanes.
Keim says back on June 1st Tropical Storm Cristobal became the earliest C storm to ever form and records continued to fall.
“The earliest E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, and R storms on record. All of those are the earliest we have ever had,” said Keim.
Of the 17 named storms this year, five have been hurricanes and one a major hurricane, Category Four Laura. Another two to five major hurricanes are projected by NOAA.
Keim warns Louisianans to remain vigilant and warns that just because we’ve been hit three times already doesn’t mean we won’t see a fourth landfall.
“We have already had three landfalling storms. We had Cristobal and Marco which fortunately did not do a lot of damage here. Unfortunately, we had major Hurricane Laura make landfall in southwest Louisiana,” says Keim.
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