2011 Hurricane Season Comes to a Close

Today marks the end of the 2011 Hurricane Season. This year will go down as yet another active season in the books, but also one that didn't see many storms directly affect the United States.

While several storms were close calls with the mainland, the only hurricane that made landfall was Hurricane Irene. That hit north of southeastern North Carolina at Cape Lookout on August 27th. In the Cape Fear area, the storm dumped up to 8" of rain, brought winds near hurricane strength, caused widespread power outages, and saw one man die after jumping into the Cape Fear River.

Irene was the first hurricane to make landfall in the US since Hurricane Ike came ashore in Texas in 2008.

Stats for Hurricane season 2011 include 19 named storms, 7 of which became hurricanes, and 3 major hurricanes (category 3 or higher). The 19 named systems is tied for the third-highest total on record with 1887, 1995, and 2010. The original NOAA forecast which called for 12-18 storms to form, 6-10 of which would become hurricanes, and 3-6 major hurricanes to form.  Pretty good predicting.  It should be noted that high resolution satellites allow us now to observe storms in the Atlantic that otherwise would have gone undetected.

The 2012 hurricane season begins June 1, 2012.