"The 2025 hurricane season was a study in contrasts. In one way, it felt very quiet in the United States. No storms made landfall in the U.S. for the first time since 2015. And, for about three weeks in the middle of the hurricane season, no storms formed at all in the Atlantic. And yet, the storms that did form were among the most powerful hurricanes ever recorded."
"Years like this one, with an average number of overall storms, but an above-average cohort of very powerful hurricanes, are getting more likely because of climate change. That's mainly because global warming is causing ocean temperatures to rise dramatically. Planet-warming pollution most of which comes from burning oil, gas and coal traps huge amounts of extra heat in the atmosphere. Most of that extra heat is absorbed by the oceans."
The 2025 hurricane season combined an unusually quiet U.S. landfall record with extremely intense storms. No storms made U.S. landfall for the first time since 2015 and there was a roughly three‑week lull with no Atlantic storms. Thirteen named storms matched an average season total, but three reached Category 5 — the second-most in a season after 2005. The absence of U.S. landfalls was attributed to luck. Rising ocean temperatures from planet-warming pollution increased ocean heat where hurricanes form, providing fuel that helped storms grow into exceptionally powerful hurricanes like Hurricane Melissa, which struck Jamaica as a Category 5.
Read at www.npr.org
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