WDAM 7′s Rex Thompson looks back at 2022 Hurricane Season

PINE BELT, Miss. (WDAM) - The 2022 Hurricane Season sent multiple storms through the Gulf of Mexico and up the Atlantic coastline. Here’s a look at the storms this past year.

The 2022 Hurricane Season started early with Tropical Storm Alex, which formed on June 5 near Bermuda. It did minor damage to the island and stayed out to sea.

The following two storms, Bonnie and Colin, never reached hurricane status, and only Colin came ashore as a minimal tropical storm. It later weakened over northeastern South Carolina. One person, however, drowned as several inches of rain fell on the area.

Following Colin, the hurricane season abruptly stopped, and no hurricanes or tropical storms formed for the entire month of August, which is highly unusual.

The next storm on the list was Hurricane Danielle, which formed on September 1 and stayed out to sea, never bothering anyone.

Hurricane Fiona was the fifth storm of the season, reaching CAT 4 status before dying out. It affected Puerto Rice, where 25 people died.

The season dramatically changed on September 19, as the National Hurricane Center was tracking a tropical wave that would go on to be Hurricane Ian. The major hurricane came ashore in Western Cuba with winds of 125 MPH, leaving five people dead.

Ian then entered the southeast of the Gulf of Mexico before smashing into southwest Florida on September 28. The hurricane caused a very destructive storm surge, wind damage and flooding rains. Ian eventually moved away from Florida, causing costly damage along the mid-Atlantic coast.

The death total, so far, stands at 114 people in Florida and five in North Carolina. Damages are estimated to be over 50 billion dollars.

The rest of the season only saw one more hurricane affect the U.S. Its name was Nicole, which made landfall near Vero Beach, Florida, as a CAT 1 hurricane.

Nicole traveled the state, passing just north of Tampa before briefly reaching into the Gulf of Mexico and then making landfall in the Big Bend region of Florida. The storm finally became a tropical storm over West Virginia.

The rest of the season saw no storm impact in the United States.

In total, there were 14 named storms, of which eight were hurricanes.

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