Tropical cyclones in 2017

Tropical cyclones in 2017
Year summary map
Year boundaries
First system06F
FormedJanuary 2, 2017 (2017-01-02)
Last systemAva
DissipatedJanuary 9, 2018 (2018-01-09)
Strongest system
NameMaria[nb 1]
Lowest pressure908 mbar (hPa); 26.81 inHg
Longest lasting system
Name19F & Noru
Duration20 days
Year statistics
Total systems146
Named systems88
Total fatalities5,645 total
Total damage$321.44 billion (2017 USD)
(Costliest tropical cyclone year on record)
Related articles
Other years
2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019
Three simultaneous hurricanes active on September 8, 2017 – with Katia (left), Irma (center), and Jose (right). All three were threatening land at the time.
Taken by various of satellites throughout 2017, these are the 19 tropical cyclones that reached at least Category 3 on the Saffir-Simpson scale during that year, from Enawo in March to Lan in October (though Debbie is out of order). Among them, Maria (fourth image in the third row) was the most intense with a minimum central pressure of 908 hPa.

During 2017 tropical cyclones formed within seven different tropical cyclone basins, located within various parts of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. During the year, a total of 146 tropical cyclones had formed. 88 tropical cyclones had been named by either a Regional Specialized Meteorological Center (RSMC) or a Tropical Cyclone Warning Center (TCWC). The strongest and deadliest tropical cyclone was Hurricane Maria with a minimum barometric pressure of 908 mbar (hPa; 26.81 inHg) and killing 3,000 people in Puerto Rico and Dominica. The costliest tropical cyclone of the year was Hurricane Harvey in the Atlantic, which struck Houston metropolitan area in August causing US$125 billion in damage, tying with Hurricane Katrina as the costliest tropical cyclone worldwide.

The most active basin in the year was the Western Pacific, which documented 27 named systems. However, the season had slightly below-average activity, and was the first season since 1977 to feature zero Category 5-equivalent super typhoons forming in the basin. The Eastern Pacific, despite amounting to 18 named systems, which constitutes above-average activity, was also significantly less active than the previous three Pacific hurricane seasons (2014, 2015 and 2016). However, the North Atlantic featured 17 named storms, and was the costliest tropical cyclone season on record. It also had the fifth-most named storms since reliable records began in 1851 – tied with 1936 – and the most major hurricanes since 2005. Activity across the southern hemisphere's three basins—South-West Indian, Australian, and South Pacific—was spread evenly, with each region recording seven named storms apiece, and with the most powerful cyclone, Cyclone Ernie, explosively intensifying to a Category 5 tropical cyclone. Two other Category 5 tropical cyclones formed in the North Atlantic, totalling to three Category 5 tropical cyclones that formed during the year. The accumulated cyclone energy (ACE) index for the 2017 (seven basins combined), as calculated by Colorado State University (CSU) was 621.1 units, which was below the 1981-2010 mean of 770.2 units.[1][2][3]


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  1. ^ "Annual 2017 Tropical Cyclones Report | National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI)". www.ncei.noaa.gov. Retrieved April 1, 2024.
  2. ^ "Global Metrics of Tropical Cyclones".
  3. ^ "jtwc atcr 2017" (PDF).