With 2022 drawing to an end, the Cayman Compass takes a look back at the Atlantic hurricane season, which saw the islands escape relatively unscathed from a brush with Hurricane Ian, in what was otherwise a less active than anticipated season.
Ahead of the official 1 June start, forecasters called for 14 to 21 named storms – systems that generate sustained winds of at least 39 miles per hour. Of those storms, forecasters predicted six to 10 hurricanes and three to five major hurricanes.
However, on 30 Nov., the Atlantic hurricane season came to its official end, having recorded 14 named storms, eight hurricanes and two major hurricanes – Fiona and Ian – placing the season on the lower end of most predictions.
According to the US-based National Hurricane Center, the 2022 season produced average storm activity – which fell short of its predictions for an above-average season.
Nevertheless, the season brought several damaging storms: Ian, which brushed Cayman before hitting parts of the Florida coast and Fiona, which caused destruction in Puerto Rico.
“This unique season was defined by a rare mid-season pause in storms that scientists preliminarily believe was caused by increased wind shear and suppressed atmospheric moisture high over the Atlantic Ocean,” said the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in a statement released on its website.
The “rare mid-season pause” occurred during August when, for the first time since 1950, no storms developed for the month. The lull in storm activity resulted in the slowest start to an Atlantic Hurricane Season in 30 years. Similar lulls, which lasted for considerably shorter periods, ensued throughout the remainder of the season.
Hurricane Ian skirts Cayman
While Cayman was largely spared the worst of the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season, we were not entirely unscathed.
In the early morning of Monday, 26 Sept., the outer bounds of Ian, while still a tropical storm, drew near to Grand Cayman. At its closest point of approach, after strengthening to a hurricane, the storm passed 85 miles west of Grand Cayman later on the 26 Sept.
Ian then made its way across the northwestern part of Cuba before hitting Florida with the full strength of a Category 4 hurricane.
According to NBC News, 148 people died and there was more than US$40 billion in damages.
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