Columbus (WCMH) – With Tropical Storm Hermine churning in the Gulf of Mexico, I thought it would be fun to look back at the history of Hermine. As it turns out, 2016 Hermine could be one of the strongest Hermines ever!
First off… let me close the discussion on this. For the Harry Potter fans out there that think this storm is being pronounced incorrectly by us Meteorologists, it is not. The National Hurricane Center has a pronunciation guide, and according to it, Hermine is pronounced… “her-MEEN”
Back to the history of this name…. to start, every 6 years the Atlantic Storm name list is recycled and reused (pending retired names).
So the 2016 list was used in 2010, 2004, 1998, 1992… and so on. So Hermine should be a fairly common name, given it is the 8th name in the list, and 8 storms is well below the average for the Atlantic Tropical season.
I went to the archives at the National Hurricane Center website to check out the data.
2010: Tropical Storm Hermine:
(below: Image track from NHC Hurricane Archive)
In September (5th-9th) 2010 Tropical Storm Hermine moved across the Gulf and reached peak wind speed of 60 knots, ~70mph. Almost a hurricane before landfall just south of the Texas/Mexico border.2004: Tropical Storm Hermine:
(below: Image track from NHC Hurricane Archive)
In August (27th-31st) 2006, Tropical Storm Hermine formed in the Atlantic and headed north towards the Massachusetts coast. This storm had peak wind speeds at 50 knots (57mph).1998: Tropical Storm Hermine:
(below: Image track from NHC Hurricane Archive)
In September (17th-20th) of 1998 Tropical Storm Hermine formed in the Gulf of Mexico and drifted north into the Louisiana Coast. It reached peak wind speed of 40 knots (46 mph). This was the first time Hermine made an appearance in 18 years.1992: No Hermine:
The last named storm this season was Frances.1988: No Hermine:
The last named storm this season was Frances.1980: Tropical Storm Hermine:
In September (20-25) of 1980 Tropical Storm Hermine made two Mexico landfalls. One in the Yucatan Peninsula, and then crossed the Bay of Campeche and went back into Mexico. Winds peaked with this storm a couple times at 60 knots.1974: No Hermine:
The last named storm this season was Gertrude.1968: No Hermine:
The last named storm this season was Gladys.1962: No Hermine:
The last named storm this season was Ella.1956: No Hermine:
The last named storm this season was Greta.1950: No Hermine:
There was no Hermine, but there was a Tropical Storm How.1944: No Hermine:
There were no named storms in this year because they did not name storms. However, the 8th Tropical Storm/Hurricane of the season was in fact a Hurricane! It followed closely to the same landfall path of the 1980 Hermine, but reached category 1 storm.
If you ever have questions about the tropics or any other weather questions, you can send them to me: dmazza@wcmh.com
-Dave