Tropical cyclones in 2020
2020 was regarded as the most active tropical cyclone year on record, documenting 104 named tropical systems. During the year, 141 tropical cyclones formed in bodies of water known as tropical cyclone basins. Of these, a record-high of 104, including three subtropical cyclones in the South Atlantic Ocean and three tropical-like cyclones in the Mediterranean, were named by various weather agencies when they attained maximum sustained winds of 35 knots. The strongest storm of the year was Typhoon Goni, peaking with a pressure of 905 hPa (26.72 inHg). The deadliest storm of the year was Hurricane Eta which caused 175 fatalities and another 100+ to be missing in Central America and the US, while the costliest storm of the year was Hurricane Laura, with a damage cost around $19.1 billion in the Greater Antilles, The Bahamas, and the Gulf Coast of the United States.
Six tropical cyclones swirl over two oceans on September 16. From left to right: Tropical Storm Karina, Hurricane Sally, Hurricane Paulette, Tropical Depression Rene, Tropical Storm Teddy, Tropical Storm Vicky
Taken by various of satellites throughout 2020, these are the 24 tropical cyclones that reached at least Category 3 on the Saffir-Simpson scale during that year, from Ferdinand in February to Yasa in December.
Cyclone Claudia
Cyclone Gabekile
Tropical storms Amanda and Cristobal
Tropical Storm Amanda and Tropical Storm Cristobal were two related, consecutive tropical storms that affected Central America, southern Mexico, the Central United States, and Canada in late May and early June 2020. The first tropical cyclone formed in the East Pacific and was named Amanda. After crossing Central America, it regenerated into a second one in the Gulf of Mexico and was named Cristobal. Amanda was the second tropical depression and the first named storm of the 2020 Pacific hurricane season, and Cristobal was the third named storm of the extremely active 2020 Atlantic hurricane season, and the earliest third named storm in the North Atlantic Ocean on record. Cristobal's regeneration date in the North Atlantic eclipsed the date set by Tropical Storm Colin in 2016, which formed on June 5. It was also the first Atlantic tropical storm formed in the month of June since Cindy in 2017, and the first June tropical cyclone to make landfall in Mexico since Danielle in 2016.
Tropical Storms Amanda (left) and Cristobal (right) near their peak intensities on May 31 and June 3 respectively
Tropical Storm Cristobal re-intensifying just north of the Yucatán Peninsula on June 5
The precursor disturbance of Amanda shortly before being declared a tropical depression on May 30
Tropical Storm Cristobal nearing landfall in Louisiana on June 7