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ABSTRACT
The 2008 Atlantic hurricane season is summarized and the year's tropical cyclones are described. Sixteen named storms formed in 2008. Of these, eight became hurricanes with five of them strengthening into major hurricanes (category 3 or higher on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale). There was also one tropical depression that did not attain tropical storm strength. These totals are above the long-term means of 11 named storms, 6 hurricanes, and 2 major hurricanes. The 2008 Atlantic basin tropical cyclones produced significant impacts from the Greater Antilles to the Turks and Caicos Islands as well as along portions of the U.S. Gulf Coast. Hurricanes Gustav, Ike, and Paloma hit Cuba, as did Tropical Storm Fay. Haiti was hit by Gustav and adversely affected by heavy rains from Fay, Ike, and Hanna. Paloma struck the Cayman Islands as a major hurricane, while Omar was a major hurricane when it passed near the northern Leeward Islands. Six consecutive cyclones hit the United States, including Hurricanes Dolly, Gustav, and Ike. The death toll from the Atlantic tropical cyclones is approximately 750.
A verification of National Hurricane Center official forecasts during 2008 is also presented. Official track forecasts set records for accuracy at all lead times from 12 to 120 h, and forecast skill was also at record levels for all lead times. Official intensity forecast errors in 2008 were below the previous 5-yr mean errors and set records at 72-120 h.
1. Introduction
Overall activity during the 2008 Atlantic season (Fig. 1 and Table 1) was above average. There were 16 tropical storms, of which 8 became hurricanes, including 5 major hurricanes [maximum 1-min winds of greater than 96 kt (1 kt = 0.5144 m s^sup -1^) corresponding to category 3 or greater on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale; Saffir 1973; Simpson 1974]. These numbers are well above the longterm (1966-2007) averages of 11.2, 6.2, and 2.3, respectively. Typically most hurricane activity occurs between August and October; the 2008 season, however, featured major hurricane activity in every month from July to November. In terms of accumulated cyclone energy [(ACE; Bell et al. 2000); the sum of the squares of the maximum wind speed at 6-h intervals for (sub)tropical storms and hurricanes], activity in 2008 was about 167% of the...