Earth  ID: 4287

Major Hurricane Drought: Nine Years Without a Major Hurricane Making US Landfall

Visualizations by Greg Shirah Released on May 13, 2015
There is a newer version of this story located here: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12251
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Hurricane tracks from 1980 through 2014. 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.
Statistacal analyses from hurricane track data back to 1850 indicate that for any particular Atlantic Hurricane season, there is approximately a 40% chance that a major hurricane (categrory 3 or higher) will make landfall in the continental United States. However, during the 9-year period from 2006 to 2014, no major hurricanes have made landfall.

These visualizations show hurricane tracks from 1980 through 2014. Green tracks are storms that did not make landfall in the continental US; yellow tracks are storms made landfall but were not category 3 or higher when they made landfall; and, red tracks are storms that made landfall and where category 3 or higher. A corresponding chart on the right accumulates the number and types of storms for each year. Notice the large gap in any red blocks between 2006 and 2014.
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Background Earth layer
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Tracks layer with alpha
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Dates layer with alpha
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Table layer with alpha
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Storm tracks are shown from 2006 through 2014. During this period, no storms made landfall in the continental US that were category 3 or up.
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Accumulated tracks (2006 through 2014) with alpha
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Print resolution still of 2005 season
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Print resolution still from 2006 through 2014, the major hurricane drought period
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Print resolution still of 2014 season
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Print resolution still of Atlantic hurricane categories table. Green blocks indicate storms that missed CONUS. Yellow blocks indicate storms that made landfall in CONUS, but were not category 3+. Red blocks indicate storms that made landfall in CONUS and where category 3+ at the time of landfall.
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States that are hit by a hurricane that's category 3 or higher with alpha
 

Newer Version

Ten-Year Gap in Major Hurricanes Continues

Related

The Coming Storm
NASA On Air: No Major Category 3 Hurricane U.S. Landfalls In Past 9 Years (5/13/2015)
What Are The Chances Of Another Katrina?
Instagram: What Are The Chances Of Another Katrina?

Visualization Credits

Greg Shirah (NASA/GSFC): Lead Animator
Jefferson Beck (USRA): Producer
Joy Ng (USRA): Producer
Timothy Hall (NASA/GSFC GISS): Lead Scientist
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio

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https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4287

Data Used:
2-minute Gridded Global Relief Data also referred to as: ETOPO2
Data Compilation - NOAA NGDC
view all stories where this data set is used
HURDAT2
NOAA / NHC - (1950 through 2014)
view all stories where this data set is used
Note: While we identify the data sets used in these visualizations, we do not store any further details nor the data sets themselves on our site.

This item is part of this series:
Hurricanes

Keywords:
DLESE >> Natural hazards
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Atmosphere >> Atmospheric Phenomena >> Hurricanes
NASA Science >> Earth
NASA Earth Science Focus Areas >> Weather and Atmospheric Dynamics

GCMD keywords can be found on the Internet with the following citation: Olsen, L.M., G. Major, K. Shein, J. Scialdone, S. Ritz, T. Stevens, M. Morahan, A. Aleman, R. Vogel, S. Leicester, H. Weir, M. Meaux, S. Grebas, C.Solomon, M. Holland, T. Northcutt, R. A. Restrepo, R. Bilodeau, 2013. NASA/Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Earth Science Keywords. Version 8.0.0.0.0