2023 Atlantic Hurricane Season Ends With 4th Most Named Storms In Year

FLORIDA — Property owners in Florida can breathe a sigh of relief — at least for the next six months. The fourth-busiest hurricane season in seven decades has ended.

The 2023 Atlantic hurricane season that officially ended Thursday is being described by the National Hurricane Center as an above-normal season due to record-warm Atlantic sea surface temperatures and a strong El Nino.

Summarizing the hurricane season, Matthew Rosencrans, lead hurricane forecaster at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate Prediction Center, said the Atlantic basin saw 20 named storms during the six-month season from June 1 to Nov. 30, ranking 2023 fourth for the most named storms in a year since 1950.

Seven storms were hurricanes and three intensified to major hurricanes, he said. An average season has 14 named storms, seven hurricanes and three major hurricanes.

“The Atlantic basin produced the most named storms of any El Nino-influenced year in the modern record,” said Rosencrans. “The record-warm ocean temperatures in the Atlantic provided a strong counterbalance to the traditional El Nino impacts.”

Hurricane Idalia was the only hurricane to make landfall in the United States. It struck near Keaton Beach, Taylor County's primary public beach area, in the Big Bend area, where Florida's Gulf coastline turns east into the Panhandle.

Rosencranz said Idalia was a major Category 3 hurricane when it made landfall, inundating the Big Bend area with 7 to 12 feet of storm surge, ripping buildings off their foundations with its 125-mph winds and causing widespread flooding throughout the Southeast U.S.

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Idalia's wrath could be felt as far south as Pinellas County where work continues this month to restore dunes that collapsed as Idalia passed by on her way to Keaton Beach as a Category 4 hurricane.

Pinellas County Coastal Management Coordinator John Bishop said Idalia caused one of the worst cases of beach erosion Pinellas County ever experienced.

"We’ve lost dunes across the county, and we were probably one of the worst hit for beach erosion from Idalia in the state," he said.

Sand dunes located above the water lines on at least six Pinellas beaches were washed away, threatening the stability of homes and businesses along the populated Pinellas coastline.

The cost estimate for restoring the dunes is about $20 million.

About 190 miles north of Pinellas County in sparsely populated Taylor County, Idalia wasn't nearly as catastrophic as previous hurricanes that struck the state's more densely populated counties.

Nevertheless, Hurricane Idalia devastated the county's infrastructure. An army of first responders, utility linemen and 700 employees of the Florida Department of Transportation were deployed to clear 6,600 miles of roadway, inspect bridges and activate 1,100 generators to restore traffic lights.

Idalia claimed the lives of four Florida residents and exacted a heavy financial toll on the state. with estimated insured property damages exceeding $9 billion.