November's Hurricane History - 2021
Bottom Line: What an interesting year it’s turned out to be. Entering October, we were pacing the third busiest season in recorded history. And then, just like that, almost on cue with the flipping of the month to October, it ended. And by it, I mean hurricane season for all intents and purposes. I mean yeah, you had subtropical storm Wanda form in the north Atlantic to close out the month and yeah there’s a little something off of the coast of Africa that’s not going to bother anyone even if it were to develop, but it never had the activity or feeling of recent Octobers. And it was a near-historically quiet month. Had it not been for subtropical storm Wanda, it would have been the first October without a named storm since 2015, and one of the very few in recent decades. Unusual generally, but especially for what had been a historically active year up to that point.
The finish line to hurricane season is in sight and we start the final month of hurricane season we do so with a total of 21 named storms having occurred. That’s four fewer than this time a year ago during what turned out to be a record setting season. Due to all of the activity early in the season, this is still the third most active season on record. Now, before discussing what typically happens in November, let’s start with a quick trivia question... Of the six months of hurricane season, which is the most inactive? If you answered November, you're incorrect. It’s June. November is the 2nd least active of hurricane season and here's the actual breakdown of months based on activity:
- September
- August
- October
- July
- November
- June
What does November generally bring? Since 1851 (the first year of official tracking of the Atlantic hurricane season), November has brought the following... 93 tropical storms and 62 hurricanes. In other words, we average a tropical storm about every other year and a hurricane about every three years. That said, last year we had two hurricanes and a tropical storm during the month. In any event, hopefully November resembles October which would mean the wind is at our back (pun intended) as we head down the home stretch.