Mid-Atlantic Hurricane Tracks

Mid-Atlantic Hurricane Tracks

This tool is excerpted from Chesapeake Bay Watershed Climate Impacts Summary and Outlook for Fall 2020.

Key Findings

  • Hurricane Isaias and Tropical Storm Fay were the most damaging storms to reach the Mid-Atlantic region in the 2020 hurricane season.
  • The 2004 Hurricane Season brought the most tropical cyclones to the Mid-Atlantic region.
  • In the Mid-Atlantic, the years from 2000–2020 saw nearly twice as many hurricanes as the preceding two decades—1980–2000.

How to Use the Tool

Selecting Time Periods and States
Use the Time Period slider bar to adjust the years shown on the map and in the bar chart. To select all storms with tracks that crossed a state of interest, select the state from the dropdown list to the right on the map.

Technical Notes

The Saffir-Simpson Scale is a measure of tropical cyclone strength based on wind speed. It includes the following categories:

  • -4 = Post-tropical
  • -3 = Miscellaneous disturbances
  • -2 = Subtropical
  • -1 = Tropical depression
  • 0 = Tropical Storm
  • 1 = Category 1 Hurricane
  • 2 = Category 2 Hurricane
  • 3 = Category 3 Hurricane
  • 4 = Category 4 Hurricane
  • 5 = Category 5 Hurricane

The bar plot shows the maximum storm intensity for each storm shown. This map was generated with tropical cyclone track data from 1980 to 2020 (as of November 11, 2020) from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Nation Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) IBTrACS version 4 dataset. As of November 11, 2020, only hurricanes through Hurricane Isaias were available from NOAA. More information on IBTrACS data can be found at https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/ibtracs/index.php?name=ib-v4-access.

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