The 2025 Atlantic hurricane season ends in late November in a state of apparent "up and down". Starting slowly, the storm season suddenly accelerates in short but intense periods, before calming down.
The two Category 5 storms Erin and Melissa appear at the beginning and end of the most active phase, creating rare wave peaks in a typically less dense storm season.
According to season-end statistics, the Atlantic basin recorded 13 named storms, including 5 that strengthened into hurricanes and 4 that reached major hurricane status (from Category 3 and above). This figure is lower than the multi-year average for the total number of storms and hurricanes, but higher than the normal for the number of major storms. This is a year that focuses on quality rather than quantity, said scientist Philip Klotzbach ( Colorado State University).
US white storm makes landfall after 10 years
A special feature of the 2025 hurricane season is that for the first time in a decade, the United States will not see any direct landfall from a hurricane. Only Tropical Storm Chantal hit North Carolina in early July, causing heavy rain and flooding before weakening rapidly.
On average, the US has experienced about 2 typhoons each year, notably in the past 5 years, all storms that have ever made landfall in the US have been major storms. This year's "storming" is considered a rare form of luck.
Three Category 5 super typhoons - a rare record
2025 will also make history with five Category 5 storms - Melissa, Humberto and Erin - second only to the 2005 season with four super typhoons. Unusually high sea surface temperatures have provided a rich source of energy, helping storms intensify very quickly when atmospheric conditions are temporarily favorable.
Melissa - the strongest Atlantic hurricane to make landfall
If the US were lucky, many other countries would not have that. Superstorm Melissa devastated Jamaica as the strongest landfall storm ever recorded in the Atlantic, killing more than 100 people and causing damage of about $7 billion.
The rare "dance" of two storms
On September 30, the meteorological world witnessed a rare phenomenon when Imelda and Humberto approached each other at the closest distance ever recorded in the satellite era.
Two storms danced on the ocean under the Fujiwhara effect, in which Humberto = larger and stronger = attracted Imelda to deviate direction, accidentally helping the US East Coast avoid risks.
ACE shows above-average storm season
Despite the small number of storms, the 2025 hurricane season is still classified as above average based on the Accumulated Compared Energy Index (ACE), reaching 133 compared to the average of 122.5 years.
According to experts from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), high ACEs show that this year's hurricane season is more prone to strong and prolonged storms, rather than many weak and short-term storms - a noteworthy trend in the context of increasingly obvious climate change.
Currently, a cold front of the Arctic is sweeping across the northeastern United States, causing snowstorms to affect millions of people.
A winter hurricane warning was issued in Philadelphia on December 14, and winter weather warnings were also issued across the region, including New York City, Baltimore and Washington, D.C.
