The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has confirmed that today marks the eleventh year since a major hurricane has struck the U.S. mainland, despite persistent claims they would increase in a warming world.
Dennis Feltgen, a NOAA spokesperson, said, “I can confirm that as of October 24, 2016, it will be a complete 11 years since a major hurricane has struck the United States, as defined by the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale of being a Category 3 or higher.”
NOAA also announced, “The current streak of no major hurricane landfalls onto the U.S. mainland remains intact. The last one to do so was Hurricane Wilma on October 24, 2005.”
NOAA defines a major hurricane as having sustained winds of 111 mph or higher. Since NOAA started recordkeeping in 1851, this is the longest the U.S. has gone without a major hurricane making landfall, breaking all previous records.
States reeling from devastating floods left in Hurricane Matthew’s wake https://t.co/aaSwyNZ1WY pic.twitter.com/UPq10RnDXe
— CNN (@CNN) October 18, 2016
Record-breaking hurricane drought persists
Despite Hurricane Matthew’s recent brush with the East Coast, it never made landfall as a Category 3 and skirted Florida’s coast before it struck South Carolina as a Category 1.
The last time a hurricane drought lasted this long was 147 years ago, which persisted 8 years and 11 months from Sept. 1860 to Aug. 1869. The third-longest drought at nearly six years was between Oct. 1900 and Sept. 1906.
Clinton says Hurricane Hermine was caused by climate change as hurricane drought persists https://t.co/IlJHwsFUwt via @ClimateDepot
— Marc Morano (@ClimateDepot) September 7, 2016
In 2005, Al Gore was quick to point out the busy hurricane season as proof of global warming. During the 2005 hurricane season, the U.S. was struck by four major storms: Dennis, Katrina, Rita, and Wilma.
Those four storms killed almost 4,000 people and caused more than $160 billion in damages. The year 2005 was the only year that four major hurricanes struck the U.S.
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