November 30th marks the official end of the Atlantic hurricane season. We ended up with 14 named storms, 8 hurricanes and 2 major hurricanes. A normal season brings 14, 7, and 3 which puts this season near normal.
Texas and the Gulf Coast were missed by tropical activity this year with most storms affecting Florida and Central America.
This was the first season since 2014 that a named storm did not form before June 1st.
Also, the season got off to a slow start with no named storms from July 3 to Aug. 30.
August did not have a named storm which is the first time since 1997.
An upper-level high pressure system built over western Europe in July and caused a large area of dry, stable air to slide from western Europe southward into the tropics. We also had a large amount of Saharan dust in the atmosphere that moved from Africa across the Atlantic which helped suppress activity.
The season became more active in September with four hurricanes (Danielle, Earl, Fiona and Ian) which formed that month.
Three hurricanes formed in November (Lisa, Martin and Nicole) which is the most on record for November.