Atlantic hurricane season “very active”

The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season is expected to be more active than average, with 16 named tropical storms. Of those, researchers expect eight to become hurricanes and four to reach major hurricane strength

Named storms 	Hurricanes 	Major hurricanes* 
2020 		16 8 4
2019		18 3 3
Average† 	12 6 3


2019 HURRICANE SEASON
Hurricane	Major hurricane
1 Barry Jul 11-15
2 Jerry Sep 17-24
3 Pablo Oct 25-28
4 Dorian Aug 24-Sep 7 
5 Humberto Sep 13-19 
6 Lorenzo Sep 22-Oct 2


Warmer sea surface temperatures and lack of El Niño are main factors

1 2 3 4 5 6
GULF OF MEXICO
CARIBBEAN SEA
Bahamas
ATLANTIC OCEAN

Jun 1-Nov 30: Atlantic hurricane season

Hurricane Dorian, most powerful storm in 2019 season, hovered over and devastated Bahamas for 36 hours as Category 5 storm


*Categories 3-5 on Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale
†Based on 1981-2010 data


Sources: Colorado State University, NOAA 
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