The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season is officially the most active ever recorded

(Image credit: CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images)

published 10 November 2020

This year's Atlantic hurricane season has just officially become the most active ever.

The National Hurricane Center late on Monday said that Subtropical Storm Theta has formed in the Northeast Atlantic. It's the 29th named storm of the hurricane season, and "this breaks the single season record for the most named storms previously held by the 2005 Hurricane Season," the National Hurricane Center said.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration previously warned in August that this year's hurricane season could be "one of the busiest on record," at the time predicting up to 25 named storms. By September, forecasters had run out of planned storm names and had to begin using the Greek alphabet. This was only the second time ever that the National Hurricane Center had run out of traditional names, CBS News reports, with the first time being in 2005.

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Theta officially breaking the record comes after Tropical Storm Eta made landfall in Lower Matecumbe Key, becoming "the 12th named storm to make landfall along the U.S. this season, breaking the previous record of nine set in 1916," CNN reports. Still, The New York Times notes that "in terms of the intensity, duration and frequency of storms, 2020 does not match the record set in 2005, when eight hurricanes were classified as Category 3 or higher."

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Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.

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