\rThe current nine-year “drought” is the longest period of time that has passed without a major hurricane making landfall in the U.S. since reliable records began in 1850, said Timothy Hall, a research scientist who studies hurricanes at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York.
\rThe National Hurricane Center calls any Category 3 or more intense hurricane a “major” storm. Hall and colleague Kelly Hereid, who works for ACE Tempest Re, a reinsurance firm based in Connecticut, ran a statistical hurricane model based on a record of Atlantic tropical cyclones from 1950 to 2012 and sea surface temperature data.
\rThe researchers ran 1,000 computer simulations of the period from 1950-2012 – in effect simulating 63,000 separate Atlantic hurricane seasons. They found that a nine-year period without a major landfall is likely to occur once every 177 years on average.
\rWhile the study did not delve into the meteorological causes behind this lack of major hurricane landfalls, Hall said it appears it is a result of luck.
\rResearch: The frequency and duration of U.S. hurricane droughts.
\rJournal: Geophysical Research Letters, May 5, 2015.
\rLink to paper: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/wol1/doi/10.1002/2015GL063652/full.
Here is the YouTube video.",
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Ana hit even before June 1, the official start date of the 2015 hurricane season. What’s ahead for the summer? Will it be like the past 9 years?1. Over the past 9 years there have been 59 Atlantic hurricanes. But during that time no hurricanes of Category 3 or higher have hit the U.S. coastline. Such a string of lucky years is likely to happen only once in 177 years, according to a new NASA study.2. Weaker storms than Category 3 can still be dangerous. Sandy in 2012, Irene in 2011 and Ike in 2008 together caused over 100 billion dollars of damage.3. But what about this upcoming hurricane season? Statistical analysis indicates that for any given year there is 40% chance of a Category 3 or higher hurricane landing across the U.S. coastline.TAG: But remember it only takes one storm in your area. 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Green tracks did not make landfall in US; yellow tracks made landfall but were not major hurricanes at the time; red tracks made landfall and were major hurricanes.This video is also available on our YouTube channel.", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } }, { "id": 11870, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11870/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "What Are The Chances Of Another Katrina?", "description": "The U.S. hasn’t experienced the landfall of a Category 3 hurricane or larger since 2005, when Dennis, Katrina, Rita and Wilma all hit the U.S. coast. According to a new NASA study, a string of nine years without a major hurricane landfall in the U.S. is Iikely to come along only once every 177 years.The current nine-year “drought” is the longest period of time that has passed without a major hurricane making landfall in the U.S. since reliable records began in 1850, said Timothy Hall, a research scientist who studies hurricanes at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York.The National Hurricane Center calls any Category 3 or more intense hurricane a “major” storm. Hall and colleague Kelly Hereid, who works for ACE Tempest Re, a reinsurance firm based in Connecticut, ran a statistical hurricane model based on a record of Atlantic tropical cyclones from 1950 to 2012 and sea surface temperature data.The researchers ran 1,000 computer simulations of the period from 1950-2012 – in effect simulating 63,000 separate Atlantic hurricane seasons. They found that a nine-year period without a major landfall is likely to occur once every 177 years on average.While the study did not delve into the meteorological causes behind this lack of major hurricane landfalls, Hall said it appears it is a result of luck.Research: The frequency and duration of U.S. hurricane droughts.Journal: Geophysical Research Letters, May 5, 2015.Link to paper: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/wol1/doi/10.1002/2015GL063652/full.Here is the YouTube video. || ", "release_date": "2015-05-13T13:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:49:43.727071-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 443248, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a011800/a011870/G2015-045-HurricaneDrought-1920-Master_youtube_hq_print.jpg", "filename": "G2015-045-HurricaneDrought-1920-Master_youtube_hq_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "According to a new NASA study, a string of nine years without a major hurricane landfall in the U.S. is Iikely to come along only once every 177 years. This video explains the findings of this study. For complete transcript, click here.", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } } ], "sources": [], "products": [], "newer_versions": [ { "id": 12251, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12251/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Ten-Year Gap in Major Hurricanes Continues", "description": "Could the first tropical storm of the Atlantic hurricane season break the 10-year “hurricane drought” record?It has been a decade since the last major hurricane, Category 3 or higher, has made landfall in the United States. This is the longest period of time for the United States to avoid a major hurricane since reliable records began in 1850. According to a NASA study, a 10-year gap comes along only every 270 years. The National Hurricane Center calls any Category 3 or more intense hurricane a “major” storm. It should be noted that hurricanes making landfall as less than Category 3 can still cause extreme damage, with heavy rains and coastal storm surges. Such was the case with Hurricane Sandy in 2012.Timothy Hall, a research scientist who studies hurricanes at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York and colleague Kelly Hereid, who works for ACE Tempest Re, a reinsurance firm based in Connecticut, ran a statistical hurricane model based on a record of Atlantic tropical cyclones from 1950 to 2012 and sea surface temperature data. The researchers ran 1,000 computer simulations of the period from 1950-2012 – in effect simulating 63,000 separate Atlantic hurricane seasons. They also found that there is approximately a 40% chance that a major hurricane will make landfall in the United States every year. These visualizations show hurricane tracks from 1980 through 2015. Green tracks are storms that did not make landfall in the U.S.; yellow tracks are storms that made landfall but were not Category 3 or higher; and red tracks are Category 3 or higher hurricanes that did make landfall.Research: The frequency and duration of U.S. hurricane droughtsJournal: Geophysical Research Letters, May 5, 2015 || ", "release_date": "2016-05-27T12:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:48:35.261447-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 423957, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a012200/a012251/YOUTUBE_HQ-12251_HurricaneDrought2016_FinalComp_youtube_hq.00001_print.jpg", "filename": "YOUTUBE_HQ-12251_HurricaneDrought2016_FinalComp_youtube_hq.00001_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Hurricane tracks from 1980 through 2015. Green tracks did not make landfall in US; yellow tracks made landfall but were not Category 3 or higher hurricanes at landfall; red tracks made landfall and were Category 3 or higher. A corresponding chart on the right accumulates the number and types of storms for each year.", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } } ], "older_versions": [], "alternate_versions": [] }