Six storms troubled Cayman in record season

(CNS) The 2020 Atlantic Hurricane Season comes to a close today but this record-breaking year has had no respect for the human calendar so far and a degree of uncertainty remains. The season started well before 1 June with Tropical Storms Arthur and Bertha in May, going on to produce 31 storms, six of which impacted Cayman and placed 2020 firmly in the history books.

This year has been the most active Atlantic Hurricane Season on record with 31 tropical and subtropical depressions, 30 named storms and 13 hurricanes, six of them major. It is the second season to use the Greek letter naming system, the first being 2005. The season was also the fifth consecutive season in which at least one category 5 hurricane formed.

In a full report about the season, officials from the Cayman Islands National Weather Service said this unprecedented activity was fuelled by an ongoing La Niña.

While Cayman was not directly hit by any major hurricane, there were a number of near misses and significant impacts. Tropical Storm Eta caused some damage, with winds of 55 knots being recorded on parts of Grand Cayman. It also caused significant problems for the weather service with its erratic path. The US National Hurricane Center had to issue two centre relocations between the afternoon of 6 November the morning of 7 November as the system approached the Cayman Islands from the southwest.

Tropical Storms Laura, Marco and Nana, and Hurricanes Delta and Zeta all gave cause for concern, too. The storms brought high seas, flooding, heavy rain and, in the case of Eta strong winds.

See the full CINWS report in the CNS Library.