2015 Atlantic hurricane season

The **2015 Atlantic hurricane season** was a slightly below average season of tropical cyclone formation in the Atlantic basin. A total of 12 tropical cyclones formed, including 11 named storms, 4 hurricanes, and 2 major hurricanes. The strongest storm - Hurricane Joaquin - fell just short of category 5 status as a strong category 4 with maximum sustained winds of 155 mph and a minimum pressure of 931 mbar. The below-average activity in this season was a result of a Very Strong El Niño event, causing the pacific hurricane season to be active. Most pre-season forecasts correctly predicted a below average season, although the season was slightly more active than most agencies predicted. Even though the Atlantic hurricane season usually runs between June 1 and November 30, the first storm, Ana, formed on May 8 as a Subtropical Storm

## Storms

### Tropical Storm Ana

 Duration
 Peak intensity

*Main article: Tropical Storm Ana (2015)*
Ana originated from a non-tropical low and made landfall along the northeastern coast of South Carolina, causing minor wind damage, some beach erosion, and one direct death in North Carolina.

### Tropical Storm Bill

 Duration
 Peak intensity

*Main article: Tropical Storm Bill (2015)*
Tropical Storm Bill formed over the far northwestern Gulf of Mexico and made landfall along the Texas coast on Matagorda Island. Bill produced heavy rains and flooding while it moved across eastern Texas and Oklahoma.

### Tropical Storm Claudette

 Duration
 Peak intensity

*Main article: Tropical Storm Claudette (2015)*
Claudette was a short-lived high-latitude tropical storm that formed from a non-tropical low pressure system just off the coast of North Carolina.

### Hurricane Danny

 Duration
 Peak intensity

*Main article: Hurricane Danny (2015)*
Danny was a compact, Cape Verde-type category 3 hurricane (on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale) that moved generally westward in the deep tropics throughout its lifetime. Danny degenerated into a tropical wave while it moved through the northern Leeward Islands and into the northeastern Caribbean Sea, causing no significant damage.

### Tropical Storm Erika

 Duration
 Peak intensity

*Main article: Tropical Storm Erika*
Erika was a tropical storm whose torrential rains inflicted significant casualties and damage on the Caribbean island of Dominica.

### Hurricane Fred

 Duration
 Peak intensity

*Main article: Hurricane Fred (2015)*
Fred was a cyclone with many un-climatological aspects, including, the first hurricane passage through Cabo Verde since 1892. The cyclone was blamed for nine deaths.

### Tropical Storm Grace

 Duration
 Peak intensity

*Main article: Tropical Storm Grace (2015)*
Grace was a short-lived tropical storm that formed in the eastern tropical Atlantic and
dissipated well east of the Lesser Antilles.

### Tropical Storm Henri

 Duration
 Peak intensity

*Main article: Tropical Storm Henri (2015)*
Henri was a weak and short-lived storm of non-tropical origin that formed well southeast of Bermuda. It accelerated northward before dissipating well south of Atlantic Canada.

### Tropical Depression Nine

 Duration
 Peak intensity

*Main article: Tropical Depression Nine (2015)*
Tropical Depression Nine was a relatively short-lived tropical cyclone that remained over the open waters of the central tropical Atlantic Ocean.

### Tropical Storm Ida

 Duration
 Peak intensity

*Main article: Tropical Storm Ida (2015)*
Ida was a sheared tropical storm that meandered over the central Atlantic for several days.

### Hurricane Joaquin

 Duration
 Peak intensity

*Main article: Hurricane Joaquin*
Joaquin was a category 4 hurricane (on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale) whose strong winds and storm surge devastated Crooked Island, Acklins, Long Island, Rum Cay, and San Salvador in the central and southeastern Bahamas. Joaquin took the lives of 34 people—all at sea—including the 33 crewmembers of the cargo ship El Faro, which sunk during the storm northeast of Crooked Island. Joaquin is the strongest October hurricane known to have affected the Bahamas since 1866 and the strongest Atlantic hurricane of non-tropical origin in the satellite era.

### Hurricane Kate

 Duration
 Peak intensity

*Main article: Hurricane Kate (2015)*
Kate was a late-season tropical cyclone that became a category 1 hurricane (on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale) while moving east-northeastward over the north Atlantic.

## Storm names

The following names were used for named storms that formed in the North Atlantic in 2015. The names not retired from this list will be used again in the 2021 season. This is the same list used in the 2009 season. The name Joaquin was used for the first and only time this year.

* Bill
* Claudette
* Danny
* Erika
* Fred
* Grace
* Ida
* Joaquin
* Kate
* Larry *(unused)*
* Mindy *(unused)*
* Nicholas *(unused)*
* Peter *(unused)*
* Rose *(unused)*
* Sam *(unused)*
* Teresa *(unused)*
* Victor *(unused)*
* Wanda *(unused)*

### Retirement

On April 25, 2016, at the 38th Session of the World Meteorological Organization's Regional Association Hurricane Committee, the WMO retired two names, *Erika* and *Joaquin* from its rotating name lists. They were replaced with *Elsa* and *Julian*, respectively, for the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season. Erika marked the second time that a tropical storm had its name retired, after Allison in 2001.

## Season effects

This is a table of all of the storms that have formed during the 2015 Atlantic hurricane season. It includes their names, duration, peak strength, areas affected, damage, and death totals. Deaths in parentheses are additional and indirect (an example of an indirect death would be a traffic accident), but were still related to that storm. Damage and deaths include totals while the storm was extratropical, a wave, or a low, and all of the damage figures are in 2015 USD.

## References

1. ↑ http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL012015\_Ana.pdf
2. ↑ http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL022015\_Bill.pdf
3. ↑ http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL032015\_Claudette.pdf
4. ↑ http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL042015\_Danny.pdf
5. ↑ http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL052015\_Erika.pdf
6. ↑ http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL062015\_Fred.pdf
7. ↑ http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL072015\_Grace.pdf
8. ↑ http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL082015\_Henri.pdf
9. ↑ http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL092015\_Nine.pdf
10. ↑ http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL102015\_Ida.pdf
11. ↑ http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL112015\_Joaquin.pdf
12. ↑ http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL122015\_Kate.pdf