In a typical Atlantic Ocean hurricane season, August is the ramp-up to September’s peak.
This season came to life almost overnight in mid-August, producing a record four named storms in less than 48 hours.
This season’s third hurricane, Idalia, formed on Aug. 29, 10 days earlier than average.
It struck the southeastern U.S. last week as a Category 3 hurricane and caused a dangerous storm surge, wind damage and flooding.
Only eight other hurricane seasons in more than 100 years of record-keeping have matched that pace, according to Phil Klotzbach, a hurricane expert at Colorado State University.
Persons:
Idalia, Phil Klotzbach, Hurricane Katrina, Ida, Eric Blake, ”
Organizations:
Colorado State University, They, Hurricane, National Hurricane Center