November 2020 Tropical Cyclones Report

Significant Events

The North Atlantic maintained its extremely active pace in November. Three named storms developed in November, which ties the record. Two of those became major hurricanes, which sets a new record. Only eight Novembers since 1851 had even one major hurricane, let alone the two that occurred in November 2020.

Hurricane Eta was the first of the two major hurricanes in November. It developed as a tropical depression on October 29 but was first named on November 1. Within 48 hours, Eta was a category 4 hurricane with winds of 150 mph just before landfall in Nicaragua. It weakened almost as quickly as it interacted with the mountainous terrain but not before producing catastrophic flooding across Central America. The storm reemerged over the Western Caribbean on November 6, but it struggled to reorganize. It crossed Cuba and the Florida Keys before briefly regaining hurricane strength in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico. It eventually weakened again before landfall in Central Florida. Despite its weaker winds, Eta's moisture combined with a strong cold front to bring heavy rain from Florida to the Mid-Atlantic.

Hurricane Iota mirrored much of Eta's evolution in the Western Caribbean and Central America. Iota became a tropical storm less than 100 miles from where Eta had 12 days later. Iota underwent a similar period of rapid intensification, going from 45 mph to 160 mph in 48 hours. Iota was the strongest storm of the 2020 season and the latest category 5 hurricane on record in the Atlantic. Iota made landfall in Nicaragua within 15 miles of where Eta had gone ashore less than two weeks before. Iota dissipated over Central America, unlike Eta, but not before bringing more devastating flooding to the region.

November 30 marked the official end of the record-breaking 2020 Atlantic hurricane season. It included 30 named storms, which tops the previous record of 28 set in 2005. The 13 hurricanes and 6 major hurricanes in 2020 are both the second most on record behind 2005 (15 and 7, respectively). Twelve named storms made landfall in the continental U.S. during 2020. This exceeds the previous annual record of nine landfalls set in 1916. Of those 12 named landfalling storms, six were hurricanes, which ties 1886 and 1985 for the most U.S. hurricane landfalls in a single season.

The East Pacific produced two weak and short-lived tropical storms. Tropical storms typically form in the East Pacific once every 2 or 3 Novembers, but 2020 marked the third straight year and sixth in the last seven to have a November storm. Despite this November activity, the 2020 East Pacific hurricane season ranks near the bottom third for most measures of activity since 1981.

The West Pacific had three named storms plus the remnants of Super Typhoon Goni, which formed in October. Super Typhoon Vamco was the only West Pacific storm to strengthen beyond a tropical storm in November. The West Pacific also remains much quieter than normal, ranking in the bottom third of years since 1981 for most activity metrics.

The North Indian Ocean had two tropical storms, including Major Cyclone Gati. Gati was short-lived, but rapidly intensified from 40 mph to 115 mph in 12 hours according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC). Gati was the first hurricane-strength cyclone to make landfall in Somalia in JTWC's database dating back to 1972.

The South Indian Ocean had one Category 1 strength cyclone, Alicia. Alicia was the first Southern Hemisphere cyclone of the 2020-2021 season, which began July 1. Climatologically, about 3 storms typically form in the Southern Hemisphere during July-November.

North Atlantic

November 2020 North Atlantic Tropical Cyclones

Name	Maximum CategoryMax Cat	Dates >39 mph	Maximum Sustained Winds	Minimum Central Pressure
Eta	4	November 1Nov 1-13	150 mph	923 mb
Theta	TS	November 10Nov 10-15	70 mph	989 mb
Iota	5	November 13Nov 13-18	160 mph	917 mb

North Atlantic Tropical Cyclone November Counts

Storm Type	Count	1981-2010 Mean	1981-2020 Rank*	1851-2020 Record
Tropical Storm Winds ≥ 39 mph (34 kts)	3	0.7 (7 in 10 Novembers)	1st (tied with 2 other Novembers)	3 (5 Novembers)
Hurricane Winds ≥ 74 mph (64 kts)	2	0.5 (5 in 10 Novembers)	2nd (tied with 1 other November)	3 (2001)
Major Hurricane Winds ≥ 111 mph (96 kts)	2	0.1 (1 in 10 Novembers)	1st	2† (2020)
Accumulated Cyclone Energy ACE×10⁴ kt²	35.6	5.8	1st	70.9 (1932)
†Previous record 1 (8 Novembers)

North Atlantic Tropical Cyclone Season Counts January-November 2020

Storm Type	Count	1981-2010 Mean	1981-2020 Rank*	1851-2020 Record
Tropical Storm Winds ≥ 39 mph (34 kts)	30	11.9	1st	30‡ (2020)
Hurricane Winds ≥ 74 mph (64 kts)	13	6.4	2nd	14 (2005)
Major Hurricane Winds ≥ 111 mph (96 kts)	6	2.7	2nd (tied with 3 other seasons)	7 (2005)
Accumulated Cyclone Energy ACE×10⁴ kt²	178.2	103.7	6th	257.2 (1933)
‡Previous record 27 (2005)

East Pacific

November 2020 East Pacific Tropical Cyclones

Name	Maximum CategoryMax Cat	Dates >39 mph	Maximum Sustained Winds	Minimum Central Pressure
Odalys	TS	November 3Nov 3-5	50 mph	1000 mb
Polo	TS	November 18Nov 18-19	45 mph	1004 mb

East Pacific Tropical Cyclone November Counts

Storm Type	Count	1981-2010 Mean	1981-2020 Rank*	1949-2020 Record
Tropical Storm Winds ≥ 39 mph (34 kts)	2	0.3 (3 in 10 Novembers)	1st (tied with 2 other Novembers)	2 (5 Novembers)
Hurricane Winds ≥ 74 mph (64 kts)	0	0.2 (2 in 10 Novembers)	9th (tied with 31 other Novembers)	1 (10 Novembers)
Major Hurricane Winds ≥ 111 mph (96 kts)	0	0.0 (0 in 10 Novembers)	3rd (tied with 37 other Novembers)	1 (2011, 2015)
Accumulated Cyclone Energy ACE×10⁴ kt²	2.0	1.4	13th	13.9 (2015)

East Pacific Tropical Cyclone Season Counts January-November 2020

Storm Type	Count	1981-2010 Mean	1981-2020 Rank*	1949-2020 Record
Tropical Storm Winds ≥ 39 mph (34 kts)	16	16.5	24th (tied with 2 other seasons)	27 (1992)
Hurricane Winds ≥ 74 mph (64 kts)	4	8.9	38th (tied with 1 other season)	16 (1990, 1992, 2014, 2015)
Major Hurricane Winds ≥ 111 mph (96 kts)	3	4.3	25th (tied with 4 other seasons)	11 (2015)
Accumulated Cyclone Energy ACE×10⁴ kt²	75.6	130.4	33rd	316.0 (2018)

West Pacific

November 2020 West Pacific Tropical Cyclones

Name	Maximum CategoryMax Cat	Dates >39 mph	Maximum Sustained Winds	Minimum Central Pressure
Goni	5	October 28-November 5Oct 28-Nov 5	195 mph‖	884 mb‖
Atsani	TS	November 2Nov 2-7	60 mph	993 mb
Etau	TS	November 9Nov 9	45 mph	998 mb
Vamco	4	November 10Nov 10-15	130 mph	945 mb
‖Value occurred in October

West Pacific Tropical Cyclone November Counts

Storm Type	Count	1981-2010 Mean	1981-2020 Rank*	1945-2020 Record
Tropical Storm Winds ≥ 39 mph (34 kts)	3	2.5	8th (tied with 10 other Novembers)	6 (1947, 1991, 2019)
Typhoon Winds ≥ 74 mph (64 kts)	1	1.5	18th (tied with 16 other Novembers)	5 (1968, 2019)
Major Typhoon Winds ≥ 111 mph (96 kts)	1	1.0	12th (tied with 12 other Novembers)	4 (1947, 1952)
Accumulated Cyclone Energy ACE×10⁴ kt²	22.1	35.4	24th	130.2 (1954)

West Pacific Tropical Cyclone Season Counts January-November 2020

Storm Type	Count	1981-2010 Mean	1981-2020 Rank*	1945-2020 Record
Tropical Storm Winds ≥ 39 mph (34 kts)	23	24.9	27th (tied with 3 other seasons)	37 (1964)
Typhoon Winds ≥ 74 mph (64 kts)	12	16.0	31st (tied with 3 other seasons)	25 (1964, 1971)
Major Typhoon Winds ≥ 111 mph (96 kts)	7	8.4	24th (tied with 8 other seasons)	15 (1957, 1965, 2015)
Accumulated Cyclone Energy ACE×10⁴ kt²	147.8	288.3	37th	501.7 (1997)

North Indian

November 2020 North Indian Tropical Cyclones

Name	Maximum CategoryMax Cat	Dates >39 mph	Maximum Sustained Winds	Minimum Central Pressure
Gati	3	November 21Nov 21-23	115 mph	967 mb
Nivar	1	November 23Nov 23-26	80 mph	981 mb

North Indian Tropical Cyclone November Counts

Storm Type	Count	1981-2010 Mean	1981-2020 Rank*	1972-2020 Record
Tropical Storm Winds ≥ 39 mph (34 kts)	2	1.3	4th (tied with 11 other Novembers)	3 (1992, 2011, 2013)
Cyclone Winds ≥ 74 mph (64 kts)	2	0.6 (6 in 10 Novembers)	1st (tied with 6 other Novembers)	2 (9 Novembers)
Major Cyclone Winds ≥ 111 mph (96 kts)	1	0.2 (2 in 10 Novembers)	1st (tied with 7 other Novembers)	2 (1977)
Accumulated Cyclone Energy ACE×10⁴ kt²	5.9	6.2	13th	31.2 (1977)

North Indian Tropical Cyclone Season Counts January-November 2020

Storm Type	Count	1981-2010 Mean	1981-2020 Rank*	1972-2020 Record
Tropical Storm Winds ≥ 39 mph (34 kts)	4	4.4	20th (tied with 9 other seasons)	9 (1992)
Cyclone Winds ≥ 74 mph (64 kts)	4	1.4	2nd (tied with 2 other seasons)	6 (2019)
Major Cyclone Winds ≥ 111 mph (96 kts)	2	0.7 (7 in 10 seasons)	3rd (tied with 5 other seasons)	3 (1999, 2019)
Accumulated Cyclone Energy ACE×10⁴ kt²	24.4	16.8	13th	82.7 (2019)

South Indian

November 2020 South Indian Tropical Cyclones

Name	Maximum CategoryMax Cat	Dates >39 mph	Maximum Sustained Winds	Minimum Central Pressure
Alicia	1	November 14Nov 14-17	75 mph	983 mb

South Indian Tropical Cyclone November Counts

Storm Type	Count	1981-2010 Mean	1981-2020 Rank*	1956-2020 Record
Tropical Storm Winds ≥ 39 mph (34 kts)	1	0.7 (7 in 10 Novembers)	7th (tied with 15 other Novembers)	2 (6 Novembers)
Cyclone Winds ≥ 74 mph (64 kts)	1	0.4 (4 in 10 Novembers)	5th (tied with 7 other Novembers)	2 (1981, 1988, 1996, 2004)
Major Cyclone Winds ≥ 111 mph (96 kts)	0	0.2 (2 in 10 Novembers)	9th (tied with 31 other Novembers)	1 (9 Novembers)
Accumulated Cyclone Energy ACE×10⁴ kt²	0.0	7.7	27th (tied with 13 other Novembers)	38.2 (1997)

South Indian Tropical Cyclone Season Counts July-November 2020

Storm Type	Count	1981-2010 Mean	1981-2020 Rank*	1956-2020 Record
Tropical Storm Winds ≥ 39 mph (34 kts)	1	1.6	20th (tied with 13 other seasons)	3 (5 seasons)
Cyclone Winds ≥ 74 mph (64 kts)	1	0.6 (6 in 10 seasons)	5th (tied with 10 other seasons)	3 (1981, 1996)
Major Cyclone Winds ≥ 111 mph (96 kts)	0	0.2 (2 in 10 seasons)	10th (tied with 30 other seasons)	1 (10 seasons)
Accumulated Cyclone Energy ACE×10⁴ kt²	0.0	9.4	34th (tied with 6 other seasons)	46.9 (1997)

Australia

No Australia Tropical Cyclones occurred during November 2020.

Australia Tropical Cyclone November Counts

Storm Type	Count	1981-2010 Mean	1981-2020 Rank*	1956-2020 Record
Tropical Storm Winds ≥ 39 mph (34 kts)	0	0.6 (6 in 10 Novembers)	16th (tied with 24 other Novembers)	3 (1983)
Tropical Cyclone Winds ≥ 74 mph (64 kts)	0	0.2 (2 in 10 Novembers)	7th (tied with 33 other Novembers)	1 (6 Novembers)
Major Tropical Cyclone Winds ≥ 111 mph (96 kts)	0	0.0 (0 in 10 Novembers)	2nd (tied with 38 other Novembers)	1 (2005)
Accumulated Cyclone Energy ACE×10⁴ kt²	0.0	1.6	18th (tied with 22 other Novembers)	12.0 (2006)

Australia Tropical Cyclone Season Counts July-November 2020

Storm Type	Count	1981-2010 Mean	1981-2020 Rank*	1956-2020 Record
Tropical Storm Winds ≥ 39 mph (34 kts)	0	0.9 (9 in 10 seasons)	18th (tied with 22 other seasons)	3 (1983, 1996, 2001, 2007)
Tropical Cyclone Winds ≥ 74 mph (64 kts)	0	0.2 (2 in 10 seasons)	7th (tied with 33 other seasons)	1 (6 seasons)
Major Tropical Cyclone Winds ≥ 111 mph (96 kts)	0	0.0 (0 in 10 seasons)	2nd (tied with 38 other seasons)	1 (2005)
Accumulated Cyclone Energy ACE×10⁴ kt²	0.0	1.9	20th (tied with 20 other seasons)	12.0 (2006)

Southwest Pacific

No Southwest Pacific Tropical Cyclones occurred during November 2020.

Southwest Pacific Tropical Cyclone November Counts

Storm Type	Count	1981-2010 Mean	1981-2020 Rank*	1956-2020 Record
Tropical Storm Winds ≥ 39 mph (34 kts)	0	0.3 (3 in 10 Novembers)	12th (tied with 28 other Novembers)	2 (1956, 1997)
Tropical Cyclone Winds ≥ 74 mph (64 kts)	0	0.2 (2 in 10 Novembers)	7th (tied with 33 other Novembers)	3 (1997)
Major Tropical Cyclone Winds ≥ 111 mph (96 kts)	0	0.1 (1 in 10 Novembers)	3rd (tied with 37 other Novembers)	1 (1990, 1997)
Accumulated Cyclone Energy ACE×10⁴ kt²	3.0	2.2	7th	16.8 (1998)

Southwest Pacific Tropical Cyclone Season Counts July-November 2020

Storm Type	Count	1981-2010 Mean	1981-2020 Rank*	1956-2020 Record
Tropical Storm Winds ≥ 39 mph (34 kts)	0	0.5 (5 in 10 seasons)	13th (tied with 27 other seasons)	5 (1997)
Tropical Cyclone Winds ≥ 74 mph (64 kts)	0	0.3 (3 in 10 seasons)	7th (tied with 33 other seasons)	3 (1997)
Major Tropical Cyclone Winds ≥ 111 mph (96 kts)	0	0.1 (1 in 10 seasons)	4th (tied with 36 other seasons)	1 (1990, 1997, 2006)
Accumulated Cyclone Energy ACE×10⁴ kt²	3.0	2.7	7th	21.6 (1998)

Global

November 2020 Global Tropical Cyclones

Name	Maximum CategoryMax Cat	Dates >39 mph	Maximum Sustained Winds	Minimum Central Pressure
Goni	5	October 28-November 5Oct 28-Nov 5	195 mph**	884 mb**
Eta	4	November 1Nov 1-13	150 mph	923 mb
Atsani	TS	November 2Nov 2-7	60 mph	993 mb
Odalys	TS	November 3Nov 3-5	50 mph	1000 mb
Etau	TS	November 9Nov 9	45 mph	998 mb
Theta	TS	November 10Nov 10-15	70 mph	989 mb
Vamco	4	November 10Nov 10-15	130 mph	945 mb
Iota	5	November 13Nov 13-18	160 mph	917 mb
Alicia	1	November 14Nov 14-17	75 mph	983 mb
Polo	TS	November 18Nov 18-19	45 mph	1004 mb
Gati	3	November 21Nov 21-23	115 mph	967 mb
Nivar	1	November 23Nov 23-26	80 mph	981 mb
**Value occurred in October

Global Tropical Cyclone November Counts

Storm Type	Count	1981-2010 Mean	1981-2020 Rank*	1972-2020 Record
Tropical Storm Winds ≥ 39 mph (34 kts)	11	6.4	1st	11†† (2020)
Tropical Cyclone Winds ≥ 74 mph (64 kts)	6	3.6	3rd (tied with 4 other Novembers)	8 (2019)
Major Tropical Cyclone Winds ≥ 111 mph (96 kts)	4	1.6	1st (tied with 2 other Novembers)	4 (1990, 1992, 2020)
Accumulated Cyclone Energy ACE×10⁴ kt²	69.6	60.5	12th	147.4 (1992)
††Previous record 10 (5 Novembers)

Global Tropical Cyclone Season Counts January-November 2020

Storm Type	Count	1981-2010 Mean	1981-2020 Rank*	1972-2020 Record
Tropical Storm Winds ≥ 39 mph (34 kts)	96	80.8	2nd	98 (2018)
Tropical Cyclone Winds ≥ 74 mph (64 kts)	43	44.7	21st (tied with 6 other seasons)	56 (1990, 1992, 2018)
Major Tropical Cyclone Winds ≥ 111 mph (96 kts)	20	22.2	26th (tied with 4 other seasons)	38 (2015)
Accumulated Cyclone Energy ACE×10⁴ kt²	535.1	719.8	38th	1,101.7 (1992)

Data Description

The data in this report are derived from NCEI's IBTrACS dataset (Knapp et al. 2010; Schreck et al. 2014). IBTrACS tropical cyclone track and intensity data from agencies and sources around the globe. In this report, data from NOAA's National Hurricane Center (NHC) are used for the North Atlantic and East Pacific. The other basins use data from the U.S. Military's Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC).

Historical values use the "best track" data that have been analyzed by forecasters after the season using all available data. Operational procedures and observing systems have changed with time and between regions, which makes these data heterogeneous. Intensity data are generally the most reliable since the early 1970s in the Atlantic (Landsea and Franklin 2013) and since the mid-1980s in other regions (Chu et al. 2002). The number of short-lived storms (≤2 days) has also increased since around 2000 due to improvements in observations and analysis techniques (Landsea et al. 2010).

Values for the current year are provisional values from the operational forecast advisories. IBTrACS obtains these from NCEP's TC Vitals, the NCAR Tropical Cyclone Guidance Project, and NHC provisional data. These values are subject to change during the post-season best track analysis. They also only include 6-hourly storm fixes, which means they may miss special advisories at landfall, peak intensity, etc.

The tropical cyclone seasons in the Southern Hemisphere begin in July and end in June, while the Northern Hemisphere seasons are counted from January to December. Storms are counted in all basins, months, and years in which they occur, which means some storms may appear more than once. However, the global totals only include each storm one time.

References

• Chu, J.-H., C. R. Sampson, A. S. Levine, and E. Fukada, 2002: The joint typhoon warning center tropical cyclone best-tracks, 1945–2000. Naval Research Laboratory, Reference Number NRL/MR/7540-02-16, 22 pp., https://www.metoc.navy.mil/jtwc/products/best-tracks/tc-bt-report.html.
• Knapp, K. R., M. C. Kruk, D. H. Levinson, H. J. Diamond, and C. J. Neumann, 2010: The International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship (IBTrACS). Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 91, 363–376, https://doi.org/10.1175/2009BAMS2755.1.
• Landsea, C. W., and J. L. Franklin, 2013: Atlantic Hurricane database uncertainty and presentation of a new database format. Mon. Wea. Rev., 141, 3576–3592, https://doi.org/10.1175/MWR-D-12-00254.1.
• ——, G. A. Vecchi, L. Bengtsson, and T. R. Knutson, 2010: Impact of duration thresholds on Atlantic tropical cyclone counts. J. Climate, 23, 2508–2519, https://doi.org/10.1175/2009JCLI3034.1.
• Schreck, C. J., K. R. Knapp, and J. P. Kossin, 2014: The Impact of Best Track Discrepancies on Global Tropical Cyclone Climatologies using IBTrACS. Mon. Wea. Rev., 142, 3881–3899, https://doi.org/10.1175/MWR-D-14-00021.1.