2024 Atlantic Hurricane Season Ends, Leaving Widespread Damage in Its wake

The 2024 Atlantic hurricane season ended on November 2 after witnessing 11 consecutive storms and causing many casualties due to natural disasters.

Meteorologists are calling this a 'crazy back-to-back' hurricane season , in part due to unusually warm ocean temperatures. In 2024, a total of 11 hurricanes have made landfall in the United States, Bermuda, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Grenada, according to the AP.

Many boats sank due to the impact of Storm Beryl. (Photo: AP).

Here are some of the events that make the 2024 hurricane season stand out:

Beryl became the first Category 4 hurricane to form in June 2024 , making landfall on Carriacou Island in Grenada. In Jamaica, the storm destroyed crops and homes, killing two people.

"The last time a Category 4 hurricane, called Dean, hit the island was in 2007. So strong storms are pretty rare here ," said Brian McNoldy, a hurricane researcher at the University of Miami.

Hurricane Beryl then strengthened into a Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic on July 1. Typically, major hurricanes — Category 3 or higher — don't appear until September, according to the US National Hurricane Center.

By September 2024, Hurricane Helene had caused catastrophic damage in the southeastern United States and was the "deadliest" hurricane to hit land since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

More than 200 people were killed. North Carolina estimates the storm caused at least $48.8 billion in direct and indirect damage from destroyed homes, drinking water systems, farms and forests. Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia also suffered major damage.

In October of this year, Hurricane Milton rapidly intensified and the storm's maximum wind speeds reached 180 mph, becoming one of the strongest hurricanes by wind speed recorded in the Gulf of Mexico.

The areas where Helene and Milton made landfall saw three times more rain than usual in September and October, the heart of the Atlantic hurricane season. For Asheville, Tampa and Orlando, those two months were the wettest on record.

In November, Hurricane Rafael reached 120 mph and was nearly the strongest November hurricane on record in the Gulf of Mexico, tying Hurricane Kate in 1985. Rafael made landfall in Cuba, devastating the island as the country was still recovering from widespread power outages caused by Hurricane Oscar in October.

People collect belongings after Hurricane Rafael destroyed a house in Alquizar, Cuba, in 2024. (Photo: AP/Ramon Espinosa, File).

Hurricane season and climate change

Planet-warming gases like carbon dioxide and methane released from traffic and industry are causing the oceans to warm rapidly. There are a number of factors that contribute to hurricane formation, but unusually warm oceans will create conditions for storms to form and intensify in places and times we don't expect.

'In other words, there has never been a hurricane as strong as Beryl so early in the season anywhere in the Atlantic, and there has never been a hurricane as strong as Milton so late in the season in the Gulf of Mexico. I would never point to climate change as causing a particular weather event, but it will certainly have an impact and cause more extreme storms,' said Brian McNoldy.

Hurricane Beryl has been described as an 'unusually severe start' to the Atlantic hurricane season. The storm has strengthened to a Category 4 storm – the earliest ever recorded in the Atlantic and the only Category 4 storm in June. Unusually warm ocean waters have allowed Beryl to intensify at an alarming rate.

People are reinforcing their houses after Storm Milton. (Photo: AP).

According to experts, the strength of Hurricane Beryl is astonishing. Beryl strengthened from a tropical depression to a major hurricane in just 42 hours. The storm's rapid strengthening is due to warming water on the ocean's surface, which acts as "fuel" for developing storms.

Meanwhile , Milton is the third fastest-strengthening hurricane on record in the Atlantic. In less than a day, Milton transformed from a tropical storm to a Category 5 hurricane, the strongest on the scale, with winds reaching 175 mph (289 km/h) as it swept across the Gulf of Mexico toward central Florida.

The storm's increasing strength is said to be lightning fast, as in just one day, the storm's wind speed increased by 56 km/h.

In the long term, the scope of the climate crisis, including more intense storms, will only increase as global temperatures continue to rise. This will not only mean more deaths and more destruction, but also signal a fundamental change in the Earth that is considered 'safe' to live on.

"We are witnessing a truly extraordinary period of extreme weather, with devastating effects across the United States. The fingerprints of the climate crisis are evident in recent weather events ," said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California, Berkeley.