Howden Re Cat Wach review of 2024 Atlantic Hurricane Season
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Howden Re Cat Watch has compiled data from the 2024 Atlantic Hurricane Season, noting a significant level of cost.
Anna Neely, Managing Director, Head of Catastrophe R&D, Howden Re and Justin Roth, Associate Director of Catastrophe Analytics R&D, Howden Re said the season preformed as advertised.
“With a total of 18 named storms, 2024 met NOAAs requirements to classified as ‘Extremely Active’,” said Roth. Of those 18 storms, three made landfall in Florida alone. He goes on to explain that early indicators suggest that 2024 will be the second costliest hurricane season on record, trailing only 2017—the infamous year of Irma, Maria, and Harvey.
“The number of hurricanes (11) and major hurricanes (5) of category 3 or higher surpassed all long- and short-term averages,” Neely said.
Milton
Milton was the 2nd fastest to reach Category 5 status in Atlantic Basin history.
Beryl
Beryl was the earliest Category 5 hurricane in Atlantic Basin history.
Hunters
Hurricane Hunters conducted 163 flights into storms, dropping 2,378 weather sensors over 350,000 miles of flight travel.
Florida
Florida saw 3 hurricane landfalls, tied most ever in a single season.
Only 6 of the 18 storms missed hitting land. The season began strongly with Hurricane Beryl but was followed by an unexpected lull in tropical activity from August into September. However, the historically warm ocean temperatures fueled a late-season surge of high-impact hurricanes.
Helene:
Due to the unusual northwest hook in the path, upsloping wind from the hurricane remnants caused extreme rain in North Carolina and Tennessee that will take years in many cases to recover.
Milton:
While Tampa Bay once again dodged the ‘right’ side of a major hurricane eye the storm was a sobering reminder for many that you can be far from the center and experience major impacts. Yes, the flooding was bad. Yes, the surge was bad. However, the tornado outbreak that occurred before was extremely impactful.
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