2004 Atlantic Hurricane Season

[HurricaneBill]

Looking back on the 2004 Hurricane season........

Hurricane Alex

Alex became only the 5th "A" storm to reach hurricane status in the past 20 years and first since Hurricane Alberto in 2000. Alex was also the first intense "A" hurricane since Alberto.

Alex also showed that hurricanes still seem to enjoy visiting North Carolina.

Hurricane Charley

Charley was a nightmarish scenario: A hurricane undergoing rapid intensification prior to landfall. With sustained winds of 150 mph at landfall, Charley was the most intense hurricane to make landfall on the US since Category 5 Andrew in 1992.

Charley was also the first US Category 4 landfall since Hugo in 1989. Charley also gave South Carolina its first landfalling hurricane since Hugo in 1989.

Charley was the first hurricane to make landfall on the west coast of Florida since Irene in 1999. Charley was also the first intense hurricane to hit the west coast since Donna in 1960.

Charley was the first intense hurricane to make landfall on the US since Bret in 1999.

Interestingly, Charley is only the second "C" storm to make landfall on Florida. The only other "C" storm was Hurricane Cleo in 1964.

Hurricane Frances

Frances was the strongest hurricane to strike the Bahamas since Floyd in 1999. Frances became the first hurricane to make landfall on the east coast of Florida since Erin in 1995.

Hurricane Gaston

For the second year in a row, a tropical storm was posthumously upgraded to a hurricane. Erika in 2003 and Gaston in 2004.

Gaston was the second hurricane to make landfall on South Carolina in 2004. Charley and Gaston were Category 1 storms at landfall on SC. While this might not seem impressive compared to Florida, keep in mind that SC had not had a hurricane landfall since Hugo in 1989.

Hurricane Ivan

"Ivan the Terrible" became the second Category 5 Atlantic hurricane in two years. Isabel in 2003 and Ivan in 2004.

The last back-to-back seasons with Category 5 storms were 1988 (Gilbert) and 1989 (Hugo).

Ivan was the first intense hurricane to travel through the Caribbean since Lenny in 1999. (However, Charley and Michelle were both intense hurricanes when making landfall on Cuba.)

Although briefly, Ivan was the first Category 5 hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico since Allen in 1980.

Ivan was the first intense hurricane to hit the Gulf Coast since Opal in 1995. Ivan was also the strongest hurricane to make landfall on Alabama since Frederic in 1979.

With 26 direct deaths in the US, Ivan was the deadliest US hurricane since Floyd (56 direct deaths) in 1999.

Hurricane Jeanne

Jeanne was the deadliest hurricane (at least 3004 direct deaths) since Mitch in 1998. (Mitch killed 11,000)

Jeanne was the first intense hurricane to make landfall on the east coast of Florida since Andrew in 1992.

Jeanne was the third hurricane to make landfall on Florida in 2004. The last time this happened was in 1964 (Cleo, Dora, and Isbell).

5 hurricanes made landfall on the U.S. in 2004. (Charley, Frances, Gaston, Ivan, and Jeanne).

This is the most U.S. landfalls since 6 hurricanes made landfall in 1985. (Bob, Danny, Elena, Gloria, Juan, and Kate)

[HURAKAN]

Everything you could say about the 2004 Hurricane Season is surprising, from the first named storm to the last one. Seasons like this one are hard to forget and usually make people think twice in matters of Nature. Nature creates, and destroys. Since 1995 all seasons have had something surprising, in one way or the other, and believe me, if everything stands as it's right now, the 2005 Hurricane Season should not be a disappointment.