The ninth hurricane of the season has formed and here we are in mid-October. Kimberley Martin of Austin was wondering if this is normal and how often does hurricanes hit Texas this late in the year.
The peak time for hurricanes has passed but that doesn't mean a few more won't form.
This October has been a busy one with two tropical storms and a hurricane. Last year two hurricanes popped up in October. The prime areas for hurricane development this time of year is from the Caribbean to the western Atlantic.
Along the Texas coast, tropical systems this late in the season are few and far between. Texas gets 1 storm every 26 years. The last time an October hurricane crashed into Texas was Jerry in 1989.
Since 1950, there have been 73 October hurricanes across the Atlantic basin. Only 11 of them have hit the U.S. most of them have been category 1 to category 3 storms. No cat 5 hurricane has made a U.S. landfall in October.
The strongest October U.S. hurricane was Hazel in 1954. It struck Carolinas making it the farthest north cat 4 to hit U.S. on record for any month.
During the record breaking season of 2005, Wilma became the 3rd costliest hurricane in U.S. history causing $20.6 billion in damage across south Florida.
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