2005 Hurricane Season (USA) Trivia Quiz

Answer: June 8

The official start of the hurricane season is June 1, though in many years the U.S. has not seen a tropical storm until July. Meteorologists knew this was a sign that 2005 would be a monstrous hurricane season.

Answer: True

Katrina is one of the deadliest and worst hurricanes ever because of the damage it caused to New Orleans and surrounding areas. But it did not start out that way. It was originally a category 1 hurricane that went through Florida from the Atlantic Ocean, and regained strength in the Gulf of Mexico.

It's one of only a handful of storms to hit two different coastal areas with hurricane force.

Answer: 21

The naming of tropical storms leaves out the letters Q, U, X, Y, and Z, mainly because there are so few names that begin with those letters.

Answer: 4

This was a record, doubling the old record of 2 category 5 storms in a single year. The average number of category 5 hurricanes that have been recorded per year is 0.3

Answer: 12

12 out of the 27 named storms only reached tropical storm status, meaning a record 15 of them evolved into hurricanes.

Answer: Cindy

Cindy was a minimal category 1 hurricane when it made landfall on July 5.

Answer: 175 mph

Just days before making landfall, Katrina, which was already a category 5 hurricane, continued to strengthen. At its peak, Katrina had maximum sustained winds of 175 mph, a whopping 19 mph more than the category 5 threshold of 156 mph.

Answer: 185 mph

Hurricane Wilma was an unbelievable hurricane. Aside from being the first hurricane ever to be given a "W" name, it became one of the most powerful oceanic storms in recorded history. It set the record for 2005 with the strongest winds, at its peak reaching an unfathomable 185 mph. If there were such classifications as category 6 and category 7, it would have probably reached category 7 strength.

Answer: Latest recorded hurricane to be greater than category 2

Two named storms later, Hurricane Beta, actually reached hurricane 3 status. There have also been other strong hurricanes recorded in November and December, much later than Hurricane Wilma. Now, on top of having unbelievably strong winds, Wilma set a myriad of records with its strength.

It is the most intense Atlantic hurricane in recorded history, with a mere 882 millibars recorded (the lower the number, the stronger). By comparison, the strongest that Katrina reached was 902. It also dipped below 900 millibars while still at category 4 strength, and is the only hurricane with such a record. And of course, since it is the first named hurricane to start with "W", it is the last storm alphabetically to be retired, and it will probably hold that record (and many of the others) for years to come.

Answer: 5

Category 1 Stan, Category 4 Dennis, and Category 5 Katrina, Rita, and Wilma, were all retired. This sets another record for the year, as no other year has had 5 names retired. Many years go by without any storm name needing to be retired.

Answer: Earliest category 5 hurricane ever to be recorded in the Atlantic

Hurricane Emily formed very early, in the middle of July, and eventually reached category 5 strength. It was by far the earliest recorded storm to reach category 5, beating the old record (Hurricane Allen) by more than 2 weeks.

Answer: At the time, it was the longest-lived January tropical cyclone

Zeta was only the second tropical storm to cross over into the next year. Even though it formed on December 31, it is not the latest named storm recorded. Hurricane Alice (in 1954) beats it by a mere 6 hours. However, at the end of its course, Zeta held the record for the longest-lived tropical cyclone for the month of January, before finally dissipating to a tropical depression on January 6.

The hurricane season officially ends on November 30, so Zeta was quite an amazing storm.

Answer: Longest-lived hurricane in the month of December

Despite some false reports that Epsilon weakened early in December, it actually remained a hurricane between December 2 and December 7.

Answer: True

There were two such hurricanes (Beta and Epsilon), and even though Hurricane Beta caused extensive damage in Honduras, neither of their names was retired.

Answer: 1

There were a lot of category 1 hurricanes and a record-breaking number of category 5 hurricanes, but interestingly enough there were not many storms in between (1 category 2 storm, 2 category 3 storms, and 1 category 4 storm).