Season produces 14 named storms, though none in August

The 2022 Atlantic hurricane season spawned 14 named storms, eight that became hurricanes and two that reached major hurricane status of Category 3, 4 or 5, the Insurance Information Institute said Tuesday.

The eight hurricanes were Danielle, Earl, Fiona, Ian, Julia, Lisa, Martin and Nicole, with Fiona and Ian becoming major hurricanes. Ian was the most damaging storm this season, and is expected to be the one of the costliest natural disasters in the nation’s history, a statement said.

Ian made landfall twice in the U.S., first near Cayo Costa, Florida, on Sept. 28 as a Category 4 with sustained winds of 150 mph, and two days later as a Category 1 with sustained winds of 85 mph, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Hurricane Nicole made landfall on Nov. 10 as a Category 1 hurricane with sustained winds of 75 mph.

Phil Klotzbach, a research scientist in the Department of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University and a Triple-I nonresident scholar, noted the dearth of storm activity during August. “The biggest surprise of the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season was that August had no named storm activity. This is the first time August had no named storm activity since 1997, he said. There was no named storm activity between July 3 and Aug. 31.

Mr. Klotzbach also noted that CSU analysis showed Ian is tied with five other hurricanes for the fifth-strongest continental U.S. landfall on record and Nicole was the latest calendar year hurricane to make landfall on Florida’s East Coast on record.