The table on the right shows the ACE for each storm in the season. ACE is, broadly speaking, a measure of the power of the hurricane multiplied by the length of time it existed, so storms that last a long time (like Emily, Ophelia and Epsilon) as well as particularly strong hurricanes (like Wilma, Rita and Katrina), have high ACEs. ACE is only officially released for full advisories on tropical systems at or exceeding 34 knots (39 mph, 63 km/h) or tropical storm strength. Subtropical storms are not included in season totals.
Records and notable events
The 2005 season broke numerous records for tropical cyclone activity, [
cite web
author = NOAA
year = 2005
url = http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2005/s2540b.htm
title = Noteworthy Records of the 2005 Atlantic Hurricane Season
publisher = NOAA
accessdate = 2006-04-03
] although records before 1944 are incomplete, so it is possible it might not be the most active season on record. [
cite web
last = Landsea
first = Chris
year = 2005
url = http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/E11.html
title = AOML Frequently Asked Questions, E11
publisher = NOAA
accessdate = 2006-04-03
]
Number of storms
During the season 28 storms formed (27 named and one unnamed), surpassing almost all records for storm formation in the Atlantic. More tropical storms, hurricanes, and Category 5 hurricanes formed during the season than in any previously recorded Atlantic season; the only major record for number of storms the season did not capture was most major hurricanes, still held by the 1950 season.
The season was the first season to use "V" and "W" names, and when the season ran out of official alphabetical names after the use of Wilma, forecasters resorted to using letters from the Greek alphabet for the first time (although Alpha and Delta had been used for subtropical storms in the 1970s).
Almost every storm in 2005 set a record for early formation. Of the twenty-eight storms which formed, twenty-two of them qualified as the earliest-forming storm of that number; starting with Hurricane Dennis, almost every storm was such.
Intense storms
Three of the six most intense hurricanes on record formed in 2005, topped off by Hurricane Wilma's 882 mbar minimum pressure, shattering the 17-year-old record set by Hurricane Gilbert.[cite web| author=National Hurricane Center| year=2006| title=Tropical Cyclone Report: Hurricane Emily| publisher=NOAA| accessdate=2006-03-13| url=http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pdf/TCR-AL052005_Emily.pdf| format=PDF] The 2005 season is the only season on record with four Category 5 storms on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale; the previous record was only two. In addition, Hurricane Dennis reached Category 4 status, tying the record set by the 1999 season with five Category 4 storms.]Early strength and activity
In July, Hurricane Dennis became the strongest storm to form prior to August and the earliest Category 4 storm to form in the Caribbean.
Additionally, seven storms formed before the end of July, breaking the record of five set in the 1887, 1933, 1936, 1959, 1966, and 1995 seasons. Five of those storms formed "during" July, also a new record.
Late activity
After forming on November 29, Hurricane Epsilon became the longest-lasting December hurricane on record when it maintained hurricane strength from December 2 to December 7. Epsilon is the third-strongest hurricane ever recorded in the month of December; only Hurricane Nicole of 1998 and an unnamed storm in the 1925 season were stronger.
When Tropical Storm Zeta formed on December 30, it came second only to Hurricane Alice (also December 30, 1954, but later in the day) as the latest ever that the last storm of the season formed. Zeta also became only the second storm, after Alice, to persist through the end of year and still be active at the start of the next. In addition, Zeta was the longest-lived tropical cyclone to form in December and cross over into the next year, and it was also the longest-lived January tropical cyclone.
torm names
The names to the right were used for tropical storms and hurricanes that formed in the North Atlantic in 2005. This was the same list used for the 1999 season, with the exceptions of Franklin and Lee, which replaced Floyd and Lenny. The names not retired from this list will be used again in the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season. Storms were named Franklin, Lee, Maria, Nate, Ophelia, Philippe, Rita, Stan, Tammy, Vince, Wilma, Beta, Gamma, Epsilon, and Zeta for the first time in 2005 (the names Alpha and Delta had been previously used in 1972 for two subtropical storms, but this is the first time they have been used in this way). This season used fifteen previously unused names, the most ever in an Atlantic season. Additionally, a subtropical storm that formed in early October was not recognized as such at the time and so did not receive a name.
Vince and Wilma were the first named "V" and "W" storms ever in the Atlantic basin. The naming of Wilma exhausted the 2005 list, the first time in Atlantic naming history that all names in the list have been used. Beginning with Alpha, the 2005 season was the first time in Atlantic hurricane history that Greek letters were used due to the exhaustion of the primary list.
Retirement
In the spring of 2006, the World Meteorological Organization retired five hurricane names: Dennis, Katrina, Rita, Stan, and Wilma. Their replacements in the 2011 season will be Don, Katia, Rina, Sean, and Whitney, respectively. [
cite web
author = NOAA
year = 2006
url = http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2006/s2607.htm
title = DENNIS, KATRINA, RITA, STAN AND WILMA "RETIRED" FROM LIST OF STORM NAMES
accessdate = 2006-04-06
] This surpassed the previous record for the number of hurricane names retired after a single season, four (held by the 1955, 1995, and 2004 seasons).
ee also
*List of Atlantic hurricanes
*List of Atlantic hurricane seasons
*2005 Pacific hurricane season
*2005 Pacific typhoon season
*2005 North Indian Ocean cyclone season
*South-West Indian Ocean cyclone seasons: 2004–05, 2005–06
*Australian region cyclone seasons: 2004–05, 2005–06
*South Pacific cyclone seasons: 2004–05, 2005–06
References
Further reading
*cite journal |last=Horton |first=Benjamin P. |authorlink= |coauthors=Rossi, Veronica; Hawkes, Andrea D. |year=2008 |month= |title=The sedimentary record of the 2005 hurricane season from the Mississippi and Alabama coastlines |journal=Quaternary International |volume=Forthcoming |issue= |pages= |doi=10.1016/j.quaint.2008.03.004 |url= |accessdate= |quote=
External links
* [http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/ National Hurricane Center]
* [http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/2005/hurricanes05.html NCDC: Climate of 2005: Atlantic Hurricane Season Summary]
* [http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2005/tws/MIATWSAT_nov.shtml NHC preliminary summary of 2005 wind speeds and deaths]
* [http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2005/ National Hurricane Center's 2005 Archive]
* [http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/tropical/tropstorms.shtml Hydrometeorological Prediction Center's 2005 Advisory Archive]
* [http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/tropical/rain/2005.html U.S. Rainfall from Tropical Cyclones in 2005]
* [http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/2005/2005-atlantic-trop-cyclones.html U.S. National Climatic Data Center – Atlantic Basin 2005 Accumulated Cyclone Energy (ACE) Index]
* [http://images.ibsys.com/sh/hurricanetracker/hurtracker.swf Flash Hurricane Tracker] – track active and archived hurricanes.
* [http://weather.unisys.com/hurricane/atlantic/2005/ Unisys' 2005 Season Page] – includes map of paths of all storms
* [http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a003300/a003354/index.html 27 Storms: Arlene to Zeta (SVS Animation 3354)] – animation of all the tropical storms of the season, omitting the unnamed subtropical storm (NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio)
* [http://flhurricane.com/cyclone/stormlist.php?year=2005 FLHurricane.com 2005 data] – includes GoogleMaps tracking
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