The Hurricane Season annually runs from June 1^st through November 30^th and the list of storms for this past 2016 hurricane season is listed below:

The season produced 15 named storms, 7 hurricanes and 3 major hurricanes. The season will be remembered for Hurricane Matthew the lone category 5 hurricane which was one of four storms that directly impacted the Caribbean. Matthew was responsible for 1,765 deaths mainly in Haiti.

The larger number of storms remained well out into the Atlantic Ocean with the notable exceptions of Tropical Storm Collin, Hurricane Earl, Hurricane Hermine, Hurricane Matthew and Hurricane Matthew. The season also produced two out-of-season storms in Hurricane Alex in January and Tropical Storm Bonnie in May. In the past 5 years we have had 6 such systems formed. Note that any storms that form through the end of December will be included for this season and use the assigned storm names for this season. Therefore if another storm was to form it would be called Paula.

The early prediction was for 15 names storms, 6 hurricanes and 1 major hurricane. The forecast was fairly accurate especially in terms of named storms but under-forecast the number of major hurricanes by 2.

Despite the level of activity of the hurricane season the Cayman Islands rainfall totals continue to be on pace to have the driest year in record. This is a bit surprising as the areas of showers that normally impact the Cayman Islands during the Hurricane Season was limited this year. These areas of showers represent the birth place for most tropical storms.

IMAGE: NHC Hurricane Gaston