2005's Hurricane Season Was "Unprecedented"
"Absolutely, as far as we know, this was unprecedented," said Keith Blackwell, a researcher at the University of South Alabama's Coastal Weather Research Center in Mobile.
There's a long list of reasons why this hurricane season, which ends Wednesday, will be regarded as one for the ages:
• The 26 named storms that formed made it the most active season on record. The previous record of 21 storms was set in 1933.
• The 2005 season also produced new records for the most hurricanes (13) and the most "major" hurricanes (7), ranking as Category Three or higher on the Saffir-Simpson scale. The scale rates hurricanes from one to five according to wind speeds and potential for causing damage.
• Four major hurricanes made landfall in the U.S., a new record.
• Five storms formed in July, a new record for that month. One of those storms—Hurricane Dennis—was the most powerful July storm on record.
• Three hurricanes—Katrina, Rita, and Wilma—reached Category Five status on the Saffir-Simpson scale. That's also a new record.
• Hurricane Katrina, which made landfall in Louisiana on August 29, essentially destroyed New Orleans with a storm surge that flooded the city and made much of it uninhabitable. More than 1,300 people were killed by the hurricane, most of them in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. ...