2010 Hurricane Season Recap

The 2010 Atlantic hurricane season was one of the busiest on record. In the Atlantic Basin a total of 19 named storms formed – tied with 1887 and 1995 for third highest on record. Of those, 12 became hurricanes. Five of those reached major hurricane status of Category 3 or higher. An average Atlantic season produces 11 named storms, six hurricanes and two major hurricanes.

Large-scale climate features strongly influenced this year’s hurricane activity, as they often do. This year, record warm Atlantic waters, combined with the favorable winds coming off Africa and weak wind shear aided by La Niña energized developing storms. The 2010 season continues the string of active hurricane seasons that began in 1995.

But short-term weather patterns dictate where storms actually travel and in many cases this season, that was away from the United States. The jet stream’s position contributed to warm and dry conditions in the eastern U.S. and acted as a barrier that kept many storms over open water. Also, because many storms formed in the extreme eastern Atlantic, they re-curved back out to sea without threatening land.

Driest October on Record

A whopping 0.00 inches of rain fell in Jacksonville during the month of October. This breaks the previous record of .08 inches set back back in 1909. The Florida drought index (KBDI) counties to increase.

Extreme drought is likely to develop over the entire state of Florida, as NO significant rainfall is in the immediate forecast. help from the tropics is quickly becoming a remote possibility.