2022 Atlantic hurricane season

Season overview

By the numbers, 2022 was close to a normal Atlantic year. The site's archive records 17 tracked systems between 5 June and 11 November, with an accumulated cyclone energy (ACE) of 110.5. NOAA's 1991 to 2020 averages are about 14 named storms, 7 hurricanes and 3 major hurricanes, so the season matched the norm for named storms and ran slightly above it for hurricanes on the site's count.

The National Hurricane Center's best track, and the season article built on it, count 14 named storms but only 8 hurricanes and 2 major hurricanes, with an ACE of about 94.6. The gap comes from definitions rather than disagreement. The site follows each storm's whole merged track, so Hurricane Bonnie, which crossed Central America into the eastern Pacific and became a Category 3 hurricane there, counts as a hurricane and a major hurricane here, and its Pacific stretch adds to the season's energy. The Atlantic tally stops at the point where Bonnie left the basin as a tropical storm.

Forecasters had expected a busy year. Warm Atlantic and Caribbean waters and a persistent La Niña both favored storms, and most outlooks called for well above average activity. Those ingredients did arrive, but strong wind shear and dry, dusty air from the Saharan Air Layer held development back through much of July and all of August, and the season finished near average rather than well above it.

How the season unfolded

Tropical Storm Alex opened the season on 5 June after its precursor soaked western Cuba and South Florida, making 2022 the first season since 2014 without a named storm before June. Two systems followed on 1 July: Tropical Storm Colin formed abruptly off the Georgia coast and came ashore in South Carolina, while Bonnie developed in the southern Caribbean, made landfall near the Costa Rica and Nicaragua border and continued into the Pacific.

Then the Atlantic shut down. No named storm formed between 3 July and 31 August, a gap last seen in 1941, and August 2022 passed without a single tropical cyclone for the first time since 1997. The only August system on the map is Potential Tropical Cyclone Four, a Gulf of Mexico disturbance that moved into northeastern Mexico before it could organize, which is why it carries no wind or pressure data in the site's storm list.

The pause ended on 1 September with Danielle, which became a hurricane the next day and meandered far west of the Azores, followed within days by Earl. Late September brought the season's busiest stretch: Fiona, Gaston, Ian and Hermine formed in quick succession, and on 23 September four tropical cyclones were active at once for the first time since 2020. Two short-lived depressions, Eleven and Twelve, never reached tropical storm strength.

October brought Hurricane Julia, which formed off Venezuela, crossed Nicaragua and survived into the Pacific, making 2022 the first season since 1996 with more than one storm crossing between the basins. Tropical Storm Karl followed in the Bay of Campeche. The season then ended with an unusual late run: Lisa and Martin were both hurricanes on 2 November, and Nicole became the third November hurricane, tying 2001 for the most in that month. Nicole was absorbed over North Carolina on 11 November, the last tropical-stage observation in the archive.

Strongest storms

Hurricane Ian was the season's strongest storm, peaking at 140 kt, Category 5, with a central pressure of 937 hPa at 12:00 UTC on 28 September over the eastern Gulf of Mexico. The National Hurricane Center based that peak on reconnaissance aircraft data reanalyzed after the season and noted how little practical difference separates a 140 kt Category 5 from a 135 kt Category 4. Ian weakened slightly before landfall, coming ashore on Cayo Costa, Florida, at 130 kt, still a Category 4.

Hurricane Fiona held the season's lowest pressure, 931 hPa on 23 September, even though its peak winds of 120 kt at Category 4 fell short of Ian's. Fiona reached that pressure as it swept past Bermuda and grew enormous, then struck Nova Scotia as an extratropical cyclone that the National Hurricane Center describes as the deepest on record for Canada.

Bonnie was the third major hurricane on the site's count, reaching 100 kt, Category 3, on 5 July over the eastern Pacific south of Mexico. Hurricane Earl came close to major strength over the open Atlantic, peaking at 95 kt, one knot below the major threshold, as it passed east of Bermuda on its way to Newfoundland.

Notable landfalls and impacts

Ian was the defining storm of the year. It struck western Cuba as a Category 3 hurricane on 27 September, knocking out power across the whole island, then crossed the Dry Tortugas and landed in southwestern Florida with a catastrophic storm surge, before a final landfall near Georgetown, South Carolina. The National Hurricane Center counts at least 156 deaths in the United States, 66 direct and 90 indirect, with storm surge the deadliest hazard and 36 surge deaths in Lee County alone; Cuba reported 5 deaths, 3 direct and 2 indirect. NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information estimate about $112.9 billion in United States damage (2022 US dollars), $109.5 billion of it in Florida, making Ian the costliest hurricane in Florida's history and the third costliest in United States history.

Fiona struck Guadeloupe as a tropical storm, then Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic as a hurricane and Grand Turk as a major hurricane, before its remnants hit Atlantic Canada. Torrential rain caused an island-wide power failure in Puerto Rico, where damage reached about $2.5 billion (2022 US dollars), the island's third costliest hurricane after Maria and Georges. The storm caused 7 direct deaths and 22 indirect deaths, most of the indirect ones in Puerto Rico, and about 800 million Canadian dollars in insured losses made it the costliest extreme weather event on record in Atlantic Canada.

Central America bore the brunt of the crossover storms. Bonnie caused 5 direct deaths, four of them in Nicaragua, and more than $25 million in damage (2022 US dollars). Julia made landfall in Nicaragua as a Category 1 hurricane and caused 35 direct flood and mudslide deaths across Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras and Panama, plus 54 indirect flood deaths in Venezuela; the Nicaraguan government put damage there at about $400 million (2022 US dollars).

Late in the year, Hurricane Lisa came ashore in Belize near the Sibun River on 2 November, destroying about 500 homes. Hurricane Nicole then landed in the northwestern Bahamas and near Vero Beach, Florida, on 10 November, the first November hurricane to strike Florida since Kate in 1985. Nicole's days of onshore wind eroded beaches along coastlines already weakened by Ian; the National Hurricane Center reports no direct deaths, 5 indirect deaths in Florida and about $1 billion in damage (2022 US dollars), while flooding from its precursor killed 6 people in the Dominican Republic.

Weaker storms also left their mark. Hermine's remnants brought record rainfall and flooding to the Canary Islands, Karl's rains flooded Tabasco and Chiapas in southern Mexico, and Colin's rip currents claimed a swimmer in North Carolina.

Records and names

Beyond Ian and Fiona, the season stood out for its oddities. Hermine formed between the Cabo Verde Islands and the African coast, one of very few storms on record to do so. Martin, a name used for the first time in 2022, grew into the second largest Atlantic hurricane on record by diameter, with tropical-storm-force winds spanning about 1,040 miles (1,670 km). On the Atlantic best track, Danielle's hurricane status on 2 September was the latest first hurricane since 2013; on the site's merged tracks, Bonnie claims that title on 4 July, after it had entered the Pacific.

In March 2023 the World Meteorological Organization retired the names Fiona and Ian because of the deaths and damage each caused. They were replaced with Farrah and Idris on the list due back in 2028.