2020 Atlantic Hurricane Season

While the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season set several new records, it shattered the record for the number of storms to hit the U.S. coastline in one season. According to NOAA, 12 storms hit the continental U.S. in 2020, including five that came ashore in Louisiana. While Canada does not normally experience many impacts from hurricanes, in 2020 it did due to the remarkable storm path of Tropical Storm Cristobal. After crossing over from the Pacific (where it was known as Tropical Storm Amanda), Cristobal made its way up through the Mississippi Basin and across the northern part of the province of Ontario before dissipating over James Bay, close to the Arctic Circle.

In the United States, 2020 was the fifth consecutive above-normal season. Ten storms caused deaths, injuries or significant damage across the country. According to NOAA’s list of billion-dollar disasters, Hurricanes Hanna, Isaias, Laura, Sally, Delta, Zeta and Tropical Storm Eta each caused over a billion dollars in damage. All of these except Hurricane Isaias and Tropical Storm Eta struck along the Gulf Coast between Texas and the Florida Panhandle.

Hurricane Hanna was the season’s first hurricane, forming early in the season on July 25. Hanna made two landfalls in Texas – Padre Island and Kenedy County – before moving to northeastern Mexico. It caused about $1.1 billion in damage in the U.S. and at least $100 million in Mexico.

Hurricane Isaias was the only storm to cause significant damage in the U.S. outside of the Gulf Coast, making landfall near Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina. It is estimated to have caused more than $4 billion in damage in North and South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and throughout New England and the Canadian province of Quebec.

The U.S. Gulf Coast was struck by eight significant storms throughout the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season, beginning with Cristobal in June 2020. Cristobal made landfall near Grand Isle, Louisiana before moving along the Mississippi Valley and becoming an extratropical depression over Wisconsin – the furthest north a tropical storm has ever traveled in North America. Cristobal’s remnants continued north and finally dissipated over Canada’s James Bay, close to the Arctic Circle.

Hurricane Laura caused catastrophic damage when it came ashore near Lake Charles, Louisiana on Aug. 27, killing at least 77 people and causing at least $8-12 billion in total damages. Hurricane Sally made landfall near Gulf Shores, Alabama on Sept. 16 before moving at the extremely slow pace of 3 mph – approximately walking speed – along the Gulf Coast and then back through Alabama just north of Florida. This slow pace left rainfall totals that were measured in feet, not inches and caused significant damage between $1-3 billion. Five days later, Tropical Storm Beta came ashore along Matagorda Bay in Texas before meandering along the Gulf Coast, adding to the rainfall from Sally in Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee.

Hurricane Delta made landfall near Creole, Louisiana on Oct. 9, only 12 miles away from where Laura made landfall in August. This complicated the recovery efforts from earlier storms, and brought renewed misery to people whose lives had already been upended by Laura.

The last major storm to make landfall along the Gulf Coast was Hurricane Zeta, which made landfall on Oct. 28 near Cocodrie, Louisiana. In a record-breaking year, Zeta made a significant mark as the fifth storm to make landfall in Louisiana and the latest landfall of a Category 2+ hurricane in more than 100 years.

While the Caribbean was struck by three major storms during the 2020 season, most countries were largely spared catastrophic damage. Hurricane Isaias struck the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico on July 30 and the Bahamas on July 31. Two people died in the Dominican Republic and a third died in Puerto Rico. Isaias caused approximately $225 million in damages across the Caribbean, including $47 million in damages to agriculture in Puerto Rico alone. Before it struck Lake Charles, Louisiana as a catastrophic Category 4 hurricane, Hurricane Laura killed 35 people on the island of Hispaniola, home to Haiti and the Dominican Republic on Aug. 23. Four people died in the Dominican Republic and 31 in Haiti. Physical damages were relatively light, approximately $100 million across the Caribbean including the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cuba, Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. Finally, Hurricane Paulette struck the island of Bermuda on Sept. 14, where it caused far less damage than had been expected. Bermuda did not record any deaths, however, two births were reported. Hurricane Paulette was particularly notable for its return as what the National Weather Service called a “Zombie Tropical Storm” after it reformed on Sept. 22 before dissipating for good the next day.

While the United States bore the brunt of the early part of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season, the end of the season wreaked havoc on Central America. Tropical Storm Cristobal crossed over from the Eastern Pacific (where it was known as Amanda), dumping heavy rain on Guatemala before forming and striking the Yucatan Peninsula as a tropical storm on June 5. The remainder of the season was relatively quiet until Oct. 2 when Tropical Storm Gamma developed along the south of the Yucatan Peninsula. While Gamma was expected to move out into the Gulf of Mexico, Hurricane Delta’s effects forced Gamma to remain over the Yucatan where it killed at least six people before dissipating. Hurricane Delta made landfall along the Yucatan on Oct. 7, killing two people and sending thousands of residents and tourists fleeing from resorts along the coast.

Hurricanes Eta and Iota were the two deadliest hurricanes of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season, killing more than 270 people (211 during Eta and 61 during Iota), mostly in Colombia, Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala. According to a fact sheet from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), approximately 10 million people across these four countries were affected by Hurricanes Eta and Iota. An appeal from the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) outlined $90 million in funding required for relief and support as of the end of December 2020. The Nicaraguan Institute of Territorial Studies (INETER) keeps weather-related records for the country, and they stated that Iota was the strongest hurricane to ever make landfall in Nicaragua. According to The Weather Channel: “This is the first time on record two major hurricanes – Category 3 or stronger – have made landfall in Nicaragua in the same hurricane season, much less only two weeks apart. NOAA’s hurricane database only documented seven such Category 3-plus landfalls in Nicaragua prior from the mid-19th century through 2019.”

Long-term recovery across the region is threatened because of the destruction of critical farmland. According to a report from CARE International, up to 70% of the crops in Honduras were affected by Hurricanes Eta and Iota. This new economic challenge predominantly affects small-scale farmers and families who rely on subsistence farming. The Honduran coffee industry has been particularly hard-hit, with the storms destroying a significant portion of this year’s crop. The loss is expected to grow with every additional day it takes the government to repair or replace the damaged roads in the coffee-growing areas.