US Atlantic coast sees first hurricane-free year in decade
Forecasters attributed the quiet outcome to a phenomenon known as “recurvature,” in which tropical cyclones curve northward before reaching land
The continental United States recorded no hurricane landfalls in 2025, the first such season in ten years, as persistent atmospheric patterns repeatedly steered storms away from the coastline, meteorologists said.
Forecasters attributed the quiet outcome to a phenomenon known as "recurvature," in which tropical cyclones curve northward before reaching land. Experts said winds and air-pressure patterns shaped the tracks of this year's storms, says CBS.
The main driver was a long-lasting area of low pressure positioned over the eastern United States. "During the core of the season, there was basically a big upper-level trough - an area of low pressure that hung out over the eastern US," said Matthew Rosencrans, the lead hurricane season forecaster. The feature acted as a steering mechanism, he said, pulling storms northward and preventing them from following their typical westward path toward the Caribbean or the Gulf of Mexico, where they are "almost guaranteed to hit the US"
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The trough also weakened the western side of the Bermuda High, a semi-permanent high-pressure system in the North Atlantic that usually helps guide storms. A strong Bermuda High tends to push hurricanes farther west toward Florida or the Gulf coast, but its weaker state this year led storms to curve north earlier and move offshore.
A related dip in the jet stream reinforced the low-pressure pattern. The upper-level trough "formed in tandem with a dip in the jet stream," creating a surface low several hundred miles off the East Coast. Meteorologist Greg Postel said the jet stream configuration was "very good at deflecting incoming tropical systems out to sea." He added that while the global cause of the dip is "not entirely clear," its presence "characterized this hurricane season," and the absence of the pattern would likely have produced a different outcome.
As a result, storms originating in the tropical Atlantic turned northward before nearing the US coastline. Forecasters described this recurving pattern as "the dominant mode of the hurricane tracks this year."
Although no hurricanes reached the continental US, Tropical Storm Chantal made landfall near Litchfield Beach, South Carolina, in July, producing flash flooding. The season produced 13 named storms in total, including four major hurricanes. One of them, Hurricane Melissa, struck Jamaica as one of the strongest storms on record.
