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Subject: E18) What was the largest number of hurricanes in the Atlantic
Ocean at the same time?
Contributed by Chris Landsea
Four hurricanes occurred simultaneously on two occasions. The first
occasion was August 22, 1893, and one of these eventually killed 1,000-
2,000 people in Georgia and South Carolina. The second occurrence was
September 25, 1998, when Georges, Ivan, Jeanne and Karl persisted into
September 27, 1998 as hurricanes. Georges ended up taking the lives
of thousands in Haiti. In 1971 from September 10 to 12, there were
five tropical cyclones at the same time; however, while most of these
ultimately achieved hurricane intensity, there were never more than
two hurricanes at any one time.
Reference
Blake, E.S., E.N. Rappaport, J.D. Jarell, and C.W. Landsea, 2005:
"The Deadliest, Costliest, and Most Intense United States Hurricanes from
1851 to 2004 (and Other Frequently Requested Hurricane Facts.) NOAA
Technical Memorandum NWS-TPC-4, 48 pp.
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