The 2021 Atlantic hurricane season was the third-most active Atlantic hurricane season on record, producing 21 named storms, and, with a damage total of $70 billion, also the fourth-costliest on record behind 2012, 2005 and 2017. The season averages 14 storms per year. This year marked the sixth straight above-average hurricane season, making for a record stretch of hyperactive tropical activity. There was four major Hurricanes including Hurricane Ida which hit Louisiana in August with sustained winds up to 150 mph and wind gusts over 170 mph. This year is the second in a row after 2020. and third overall, in which the designated 21-name list of storm names was exhausted. Tropical Storm Ana formed on May 22, making 2021 the seventh consecutive year that a storm formed before the designated start of the season. This season, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) began issuing regular Tropical Weather Outlooks on May 15, two weeks earlier than it has done in the past. The change was implemented given that named systems had formed in the Atlantic Ocean prior to the start of the season in each of the preceding six cycles. Prior to the start of the season, NOAA deployed five modified hurricane-class sail drones at key locations around the basin, and in September, one of the vessels was in position to obtain video and data from inside Hurricane Sam. It was the first ever research vessel to venture inside the middle of a major hurricane.
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