The 2011 hurricane season will be remembered of the amount of activity but not necessarily the size or strength of storms. Still…the year will go down as the most destructive – from a tropical standpoint – for the U.S. since 2008. 2011 ended up tied for third – with 1887, 1995 & 2010 -- as the most active on record with the first named storm identified June 29th & the last on Nov. 12th. The Atlantic Basin death toll was 120 with damage of at least $11.6 billion. There was a notable lack of activity in the Gulf of Mexico (except for the Bay of Campeche) & especially the Caribbean.
The map below – courtesy UNISYS – shows all the storms that occurred with 3 out of the 19 (tropical storms/hurricanes) directly hitting the U.S. “Don” hit Texas as a rapidly weakening tropical cyclone in late July….”Irene” was the most damaging U.S. hit affecting the east coast the last week of August…& the 3rd storm was tropical storm “Lee” the first week of September. Though “Lee” came ashore along the Gulf Coast only as a tropical storm, the remnants proved to be most costly over the Mid Atlantic, Northeast & Ohio Valley where flooding & tornadoes caused a great deal of damage.
Maps below courtesty "Weather Underground"...........
(1) “Don” was an enigma in that the storm quite literally disintegrated upon its approach to the Texas coast. Some meteorologists blamed the long term Texas drought which allowed for entrainment of dry air as the storm approached. I believe that could partially have been the cause, but I also believe the weakening was largely a product of the meteorological set-up that was in place at the time. The synoptic pattern – drought or no drought – showed strong upper level high pressure across the Deep South which was feeding dry air southward from the continental U.S. This semi-permanent summer feature (probably at least partially fed by the drought) continued to steer many a tropical cyclone to the south of Texas for much of the rest of the season. In any case…little or no damage – for that matter rain – occurred with “Don”.
(2) “Irene” was the first U.S. landfalling hurricane since 2008. The first landfall – Cat. 1 – was in N. Carolina followed by a 2nd Cat. 1 landfall in New Jersey. In the morning of Aug. 28th, “Irene” – as a tropical storm made a move directly over NYC. At least 55 people were killed from the Caribbean to the U.S. to Canada with damage estimated at more than 10.1 billion dollars.
(3) “Lee” never made it to hurricane status coming ashore on the coast of Louisiana as a fairly week tropical storm. The greatest damage actually occurred well inland & far to the north several days later in the form of widespread flooding & a few tornadoes from the Mid Atlantic & Northeast U.S. to Quebec & Ontario, Canada.
As far as the First Coast was concerned, 2011 was a pretty quiet season. Several storms caused enhanced wave action & rip currents with “Irene” the most notable. But no storms made a direct hit nor brought any significant rain – something much needed since the area remains muddled in a long term drought.
As for preseason forecasts & their results….below you’ll find the average vs. Colorado St., NOAA & reality:
Named Storms Hurricanes “Major” (Cat. 3+)
Avg. 10 6 2
CSU 16 9 5
NOAA 12 – 18 6 – 10 3 – 6
Reality 19 7 3
“Talking the Tropics With Mike” will resume at the beginning of the 2012 hurricane season – June 1st. For “all the weather all the time” (& then some!), click here to go to the “Buresh Blog”.
