Hurricane Season 2003 Wrap-Up

Hurricane Season 2003 Wrap-Up
    By Jake Skellett, WBRZ Meteorologist, Monday, 01 Dec 2003
The hurricane season of 2003 ended on November 30.  These are highlights from this year's season:
• A "normal" tropical season consists of 9.6 named storms, 5.9
   hurricanes and 2.3 intense hurricanes. In 2003 we had 14 named
   storms, 6 hurricanes and 2 intense hurricanes.
• Here are the systems that developed this year:
          (S=Tropical Storm, D=Tropical Depression, H=Hurricane):
   S-ANA, D-TWO, S-BILL, H-CLAUDETTE, H-DANNY, D-SIX,
   D-SEVEN, S-ERIKA, D-NINE, H-FABIAN, S-GRACE, S-HENRI,
   H- ISABEL, D- FOURTEEN, H-JUAN, H-KATE, S-LARRY,
   S-MINDY, S-NICHOLAS.
• Two intense hurricanes (category 3 or higher) developed -
   Hurricanes Fabian and Isabel.
• Isabel was the 3rd longest lasting MAJOR hurricane (category 3
   or higher) on record since 1950.
• US Landfalls of 2003:
   o 4 on Gulf coast
     + S- BILL - Southeast LA (30 Jun) 50 kt. max
     + H-CLAUDETTE - Port O'Connor, TX (18 Jul) 70 kt. max
     + S-GRACE - Port O'Connor, TX (31 Aug) 35 kt. max
     + S-HENRI - Western FL
   o 1 on Atlantic coast
     + H-ISABEL - Ocracoke Island, NC - (19 Sept) 85 kt. Max

Tropics!  - Friday, 05 Dec 2003
A rare December tropical storm, Odette, developed in the Caribbean.  The last time a tropical system formed in the Atlantic basin during the month of December was 1974 - Hurrican Lili.  This is the first December storm that actually formed in the Caribbean itself.

UPDATE - 10 December 2003
Tropical Depression Peter
Tropical Storm Peter formed yesterday in the far eastern Atlantic.  This is the first time since 1887 there have been TWO tropical systems develop in the Atlantic Basin during December.  The storm weakened overnight to a depression and will probably become extratropical today.  There is NO threat to the US coast.