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Why Hurricane Nicole made landfall in November | Weather Rewind

We're looking back at Nicole. It made landfall as a weak hurricane early Thursday morning. Although it's not the strongest storm to hit Florida, it's a bit unique.

FLORIDA, USA — It's Friday, and that means it's time for another Weather Rewind, where we take a look at some of the best weather video from the past week—with a twist.

This week, we're looking back at Hurricane Nicole.

You may recall it made landfall as a weak, Category 1 hurricane early Thursday morning—and although it's not the strongest storm, it's an unusual one.

LET’S REWIND

Nicole started as a subtropical storm in the Atlantic on Monday.

After transitioning from a subtropical storm to a fully tropical system Tuesday, it passed through the Bahamas, making a landfall Wednesday.

With sights set on Florida, it made landfall Thursday morning just south of Vero Beach.

Although Nicole is far from the strongest storm to hit Florida, it's one of the few during the month of November.

Let's take a closer look.

WHAT’S HAPPENING

November is the final month of hurricane season, so tropical systems can still form.

It's just less common because the warm ocean waters start to cool and changes in wind shear begin to take place.

Credit: FOX43 Weather
Hurricane Season ends on November 30th.

A couple of notable years for November tropical development are the infamous 2005 and 2020 seasons.

In 2005, there were two tropical storms and a Category 1 hurricane, Epsilon. In the record-smashing 2020, the was one tropical storm and two powerful hurricanes, Eta and Iota.

They both reached major hurricane strength, peaking as two Category 4 storms.

Both also made landfall within two weeks of each other near the same spot in Nicaragua.

Credit: FOX43 Weather
Multiple November tropical systems don't happen frequently, but the historic 2005 and 2020 years were quite notable for development. In fact, two Category 4 storms formed in November 2020.

U.S. landfalls in November are rare—in fact, only three hurricanes have hit Florida.

These include the "Yankee Hurricane" in 1935, and Hurricane Kate in 1985.
Kate became one of only four major hurricanes to form in November.

It weakened to a Category 2 storm before making landfall.

And of course, now Nicole is included, too.

Credit: FOX43 Weather
Three hurricanes have made landfall in the U.S. in November, and Nicole was one of them.


Stay tuned every Friday for the "whys" behind the weather wonders that grab our attention each week!

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