Hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean:

Overview
Table of contents:

Introduction
page: 3
Atlantic Hurricane Season 2008:
• Conditions page: 5
• Time of Activity page: 6
• Landfalls page: 7
• Damage page: 9
• ACE count page: 10
• Records page: 11
Appendix page: 13
Sources page: 14

Impact after Hurricane Ike in the United States

Introduction:

In this summary I am going to tell you about the heavy hurricane season 2008 in the Atlantic
Ocean. This season was a very active one and the hurricanes have damaged a lot of areas
around the West area of the Atlantic Ocean. The expectations of this season were far below
the real measures of hurricanes of the season. They anticipated a season with 13 named
storms, 7 hurricanes and 3 major hurricanes. This information was released by the CSU (the
Colorado State University). In reality there were named 16 storms (and one tropical
depression which never get named), 8 hurricanes and 5 mayor hurricanes.

Hurricane Gustav on his way to Jamaica.

 Atlantic Hurricane Season 2008:

This map shows the tracks of the Hurricanes of season 2008.

Conditions:

This picture shows the condition for the season of 2008. As you can see, the meteorologists
could almost predict where the paths of hurricanes went. The red area is very favourable for
arises of hurricanes. But the blue area is very unfavourable for arises of hurricanes. The
arrows show the trade winds which are very important for the hurricanes tracks.

During the season the conditions became even better and more hurricanes and tropical storms
formed in the Atlantic Ocean. At one time even 4 storms where active at the same time.
(Gustav, Hanna, Ike and Josephine) This never happened before and we can conclude that the
conditions on that time where ideal for hurricanes to develop.
Also the tropical waves from the coast of Africa caused 2 Cape Verde storms: Bertha and
Josephine. Further the conditions were so ideal that a major hurricane formed in the month of
November, when everybody thought the season was over. In a couple of days Cuba was hit
again by a major hurricane. The conditions were so ideal that in every month a major
hurricane was born. This was in the months of July, Augustus, September, October and
November.
Time of Activity:

The activity of hurricanes was very special this season. Not only 4 storms where active at the
same time, but we also had a major hurricane at the end of the season! On the table here
below I will show the dates that the hurricanes were active. If you want to know more about
the hurricanes, I refer to my summaries about each hurricane.

Month: Storm:
May: Arthur
June: Arthur
July: Bertha
Cristobal
Dolly
August: Edouard
Fay
Gustav
Hanna
September: Gustav
Hanna
Ike
Josephine
Kyle
Laura
October: Laura
Marco
Nana
Omar
November: Paloma

These colours represent the strength of the hurricanes:

Category:
Tropical Depression
Tropical Storm
Hurricane Category 1
Hurricane Category 2
Hurricane Category 3
Hurricane Category 4
Hurricane Category 5

As you could see on the table, the most activity was measured in the month of September with
6 named storms, 2 tropical storm, 4 hurricanes and 2 major hurricanes.
This table gives us an impression of the activity during the season and with this we can
conclude that the activity during the season was above normal. But this will be discussed in a
later chapter about the ACE of this season.
Landfalls:

The landfalls of the hurricanes as well as the tropical storms of this season can be seen in the
table here below. In total there were 31 landfalls. A landfall means that the eye of a tropical
storm or hurricane comes ashore.

Belize:
Name: Strenght: Data:
Arthur Tropical Storm 31 May

Canada:
Name: Strenght: Data:
Kyle Category 1 28 September

Cuba:
Name: Strenght: Data:
Fay Tropical storm 15 August
Gustav Category 4 30 August
Ike Category 3 7 September
Paloma Category 3 8 November

Dominican Republic:
Name: Strenght: Data:
Fay Tropical storm 15 August

Haïti:
Name: Strenght: Data:
Gustav Tropical storm 26 August

Guatamala:
Name: Strenght: Data:
Dolly Tropical storm 21 July

Jamaica:
Name: Strenght: Data:
Gustav Tropical storm 26 August
Mexico:
Name: Strenght: Data:
Dolly Category 2 23 July
Marco Tropical storm 7 October

United States:
Florida:
Name: Strenght: Data:
Fay Tropical storm 19 August (4 times)

Louisiana:
Name: Strenght: Data:
Edouard Tropical storm 5 August
Gustav Category 2 1 September

Texas:
Name: Strenght: Data:
Dolly Category 2 23 July
Edouard Tropical Storm 5 August
Ike Category 2 13 September

South/North Carolina:
Name: Strenght: Data:
Hanna Tropical storm 6 September

Only 3 Hurricanes came ashore as a major hurricane. But when the storms moved further onto
the ocean they became stronger and the impact was even greater.
Damage:

This season was one of the costliest seasons after the hurricane season of 2005. This is caused
by the heavy hurricanes how reach pour countries and high populated areas. The table below
will show the damage by every named storm which came at land.

Name: Category: Damage in Million Causalities:

Dollars:
Arthur Tropical storm 78 9
Bertha Category 3 hurricane - 3
Cristobal Tropical storm - 0
Dolly Category 2 hurricane 1520 22
Edouard Tropical storm 0.25 6
Fay Tropical storm 180 36
Gustav Category 4 hurricane 8300 138
Hanna Categorie 1 orkaan 160 537
Ike Category 4 hurricane 31500 164
Josephine Tropical storm 0 0
Kyle Category 1 hurricane 23 6
Laura Tropical storm 0 0
Marco Tropical storm - 0
Nana Tropical storm 0 0
Omar Category 4 hurricane 96 2
Paloma Category 4 hurricane 2090 1
Total: 43947.25 924
Round off: 44 billion dollar 924 causalities

The yellow area shows the highest category and the most damage and last but not least the
highest causalities.
Hurricane Hanna made the most causalities in Haiti. This was caused by heavy rainfall and
floods and because Haiti is a poor land, a lot of people died because they had no money to
leave the area they lived.
Hurricane Ike had the highest ACE count and cost an enormous amount money due to the
damage in the United States. If Ike was only 1 category higher (with a difference of only 5
kilometres) the impact would have been even greater than when Hurricane Katrina hit the
same area 3 years earlier.
ACE count:

The ACE count is a number for the measure of the strength of a hurricane. This number is
given to each hurricane of a season. The numbers all together give us a estimate of the activity
of a season. These numbers define if the season is normal or hyper active. The table below
will show the difference between each stage.

ACE count: Classification:

0 till 70 Below normal
70 till 100 Normal
100 till 150 Above normal
150 > Hyperactive

The season of 2008 was a season with an ACE count of 143 and is classified as an above
normal season. The numbers do not represent the total of hurricanes of a season but the
strength they had. So a season with only 10 hurricanes, and of the 10 hurricanes, with also 5
major hurricanes, this season could still be an above normal season or even a hyperactive
season.
As you look to the season of 2005, the ACE count was 248 and classified as a hyperactive
season. This season was not a hyperactive season, but still a very strong season and rare
season.
Name: ACE count:
The table shows the activity of this season by Ike 39.0
every hurricane. The number represents the Bertha 28.4
ACE. As you can see, Ike had the highest Gustav 18.4
ACE count of this season. Ike was also the Hanna 10.4
biggest hurricane ever measured in the Paloma 9.90
Atlantic Ocean. The diameter was so wide, Omar 7.67
that Ike became the biggest hurricane ever Fay 6.72
measure in the Atlantic Ocean. Ike was also Kyle 5.43
rd
on the 3 place with the highest costs of Dolly 5.36
damage in a landfall. Cristobal 3.81
Josephine 3.07
Edouard 1.70
Marco 1.32
Laura 0.863
Arthur 0.773
Nana 0.490

Hurricane Ike on peak of intensity.

Records:

The season of 2008 was a season with a lot of records made by the hurricanes. In this chapter
I am going to tell about all the records which were made in the Atlantic Ocean in the season of
2008. I’ll tell about the records of every hurricane. If a hurricane or tropical storm is not
listed, than it made no records this year.

Bertha:
• Earliest Cape Verde major hurricane
• Longest living hurricane ever measured in the Atlantic Ocean
• Longest living hurricane in July in the Atlantic Ocean
• Most eastern hurricane ever seen in the Atlantic Ocean
• On the 7th place for wettest hurricane in Bermuda
• On the 6th place for the most devastating hurricane in August

Dolly:
• On the 2nd place for the most devastating
hurricane in July in the United States
• Strongest hurricane in July which made a landfall
in Texas
• On the 4th place for costliest hurricane in Texas
(1.2 billion dollar)

Fay:
• The most landfall for a tropical storm (she made a
landfall 4 times)
• On the 3rd place for the highest ACE for a tropical
storm

Gustav:
• On the 6th place for a hurricane with the biggest
diameter

Ike:
• Biggest hurricane ever seen in the Atlantic Ocean.
(biggest diameter)
• Highest Integrated Kinetic Energy ever measured.
This means that Hurricane Ike was the most
devastating hurricane in history
• The highest rainfall ever measured in Ontario

Marco:
• Smallest tropical storm ever measured in the Atlantic Ocean

Paloma:
• One of the 7 hurricanes ever measured in the Atlantic Ocean which were active in
November
• On the 2nd place for strongest hurricane in November
Of course this season had some common records. On this page I am going to tell about that.
I’ve put the records in a table so we can see what the hurricane season of 2008 brought us.

Records:
• Most hurricane active on the same day (Gustav, Hanna, Ike and Josephine
• In ever month a major hurricane (July, August, September, October and November
• On the 3rd place for costliest season ever!
• On the 4th place for busiest season ever!

This season was a season with a lot of records, and this made the season of 2008 a very
special season. After the hurricane season of 2005, this season is on the second place of this
century.

Tropical Storm Fay making Landfall to Florida.

Appendix:

This summary gives a good impression about the hurricane season 2008 and I hope you’ve
enjoyed this summary. If you want to know more about every tropical storm and of course the
hurricanes of this season, I refer to my summaries about each tropical storm and hurricane.
This is a great collection about the season. This summary is just a supplement to the collection
of summaries about each tropical storm and hurricane of the season of 2008!

Hurricane Ike on his way to Cuba

Sources:

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/imagerecords/35000/35347/ike_amo_2008254_lrg.jp
g
http://www.fema.gov/photodata/original/38891.jpg
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2008/images/hurricanetracks.jpg
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2008/images/hurricaneconditions.jpg
http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/?2008242-0829/Gustav.A2008242.1825.2km.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Atlantic_hurricane_season
http://www.fema.gov/photodata/original/38895.jpg
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/268695main_fay_seawifs_lg.jpg
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/268457main_fay_amo_HI.jpg
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/272327main_ike_amo_2008251_lrg.jpg