2008 Hurricane Yearbook (Update)

1. Tropical Storm Alma

The first named storm of 2008 in the Americas, Tropical Storm Alma formed in the Pacific May 29, 2008. It was the easternmost storm ever to form in the Pacific.

Alma swept into Central America, bringing punishing winds and rain to Central America, causing at least 10 deaths in Honduras and Nicaragua.

Alma was the first tropical storm to make landfall along the Pacific coast of Central America since 1949 and the first ever recorded landfall in Nicaragua.

This image is from May 29.

2. Tropical Storm Arthur

Days after Tropical Storm Alma inaugurated the eastern Pacific hurricane season, Tropical Storm Arthur debuted in the Atlantic Basin just on the other side of the Central American isthmus.

Forming on May 31, a day shy of the official June 1 start of the hurricane season, lost tropical storm strength in fewer than 24 hours, but not before dropping rain of 10-15 inches to parts of the Yucatan Peninsula, including Mexico and Guatemala.

Photo is from May 31.

2008 Hurricane Forecast

Forecasters have predicted that the Atlantic will see above-average tropical storm and hurricane activity, while the Pacific will see below-average activity.

The National Hurricane Center predicts 12 to 16 named storms in the Atlantic, including six to nine hurricanes and as many as five major hurricanes (Category 3 or greater).

The Pacific could see 11-16 named storms, including five to eight hurricanes, as many as three of them major.

3. Hurricane Boris

After nearly a month of quiet, Tropical Storm Boris formed in the Pacific on June 27, 2008. By July 1, Boris reached hurricane strength, becoming the first hurricane of the 2008 season in the Americas.

Boris lost hurricane strength July 2 and dissipated July 3 without making landfall. This image shows Hurricane Boris on July 2, when it was still a Category 1 storm.

3. Tropical Storm Cristina

Tropical Storm Cristina formed in the eastern Pacific June 28, 2008, just after Tropical Storm Boris. While Cristina petered out by June 30, Boris grew into the first hurricane of the season.

This image is from June 30.

5. Tropical Storm Douglas

While Hurricane Boris was reaching, then losing, hurricane strength, Tropical Storm Douglas formed in the eastern Pacific on July 1.

The weak tropical storm lost strength and was downgraded by July 3. It did, however, bring heavy rains to the coast of Mexico.

This image, dated July 2, shows both Boris and Douglas using a brightness temperature scale.

6. Hurricane Bertha

On July 3, Tropical Storm Bertha formed in the far eastern Atlantic, became a hurricane on July 7 and reached its peak intensity on July 8 as a Category 3 storm. She was the first hurricane of the 2008 Atlantic season, and a rare major hurricane in the month of July.

While Bertha lost hurricane status before drenching Bermuda July 14, she regained hurricane strength again July 18.

By the time Bertha dissipated July 20, she was the longest lived tropical storm on record for the Atlantic in the month of July, and she contributed to the third most active July, in terms of accumulated cyclone energy.

This image is from July 9.

Atlantic Ocean Temperature - July 2008

Hurricane Bertha became the longest-lived tropical storm ever to ply the Atlantic, and her 16-day lifespan was a result of warm waters.

This early July map shows sea-surface temperature, a key precursor of hurricane intensity, with the darkest oranges showing water at about 77 degrees (F).

Bertha\'s Wake

Hurricanes leave a wake of cool water in their paths.

This map shows the path Bertha took through the Atlantic, and the sea surface temperature, with waters warm enough to spawn a hurricane colored in yellows and oranges.

Hurricane Probability Chart

7. Hurricane Elida

Tropical Storm Elida formed July 11 in the eastern Pacific and grew into Hurricane Elida July 14. It reached its peak strength -- Category 2 -- on July 16, before losing hurricane strength July 18 and dissipating July 19 without having affected land.

This image is from July 25.

8. Hurricane Fausto

As Hurricane Elida reached peak strength July 16, Tropical Storm Fausto formed behind it in the eastern Pacific. By July 18, it had formed into Hurricane Fausto, the third of 2008 in the eastern Pacific. It reached peak strength, Category 2, July 21 but had dissipated by July 22.

Like most named storms in the region in 2008, though, it formed near Mexico and headed west, avoiding land.

This image is from July 21.

9. Tropical Storm Cristobal

A day after Bertha regained hurricane strength in the northern Atlantic, Tropical Storm Cristobal welled up July 19 off the coast of South Carolina.

Cristobal spawned rain in the Carolinas, but skirted land and dissipated by July 23.

This image is from July 21.

10. Hurricane Dolly

Born a day after Tropical Storm Cristobal and on the day Hurricane Bertha dissipated, July 20, Tropical Storm Dolly formed in the Western Caribbean. It would make landfall in the Yucatan peninsula, killing at least 17, before moving into the Gulf of Mexico.

Hurricane Dolly, the second 2008 hurricane in the Atlantic basin, formed July 22 in the Gulf of Mexico and reached peak strength, Category 2, just before landfall at South Padre Island, Texas, July 23.

While the storm quickly dissipated over land, it still drenched a wide swath of the United States (with 6.7 inches, Brownsville, Texas recorded its most ever rainfall in a single day). The result: flooding, at least one death, and as much as $1 billion in damages.

This image is from July 23.

11. Hurricane Genevieve

As Hurricane Fausto reached its top strength, Tropical Storm Genevieve formed in the eastern Pacific July 21. By July 25, it was Hurricane Genevieve, the fourth 2008 hurricane in the eastern Pacific.

But she was short-lived. Genevieve lost hurricane strength July 26, and dissipated July 27.

Despite spawning four named tropical storms, three of which became hurricanes, the eastern Pacific storm activity was considered just average for the month of July.

This image is from July 25.

12. Tropical Storm Edouard

Tropical Storm Edouard became the first named storm in August, and the fourth in the Atlantic of 2008 on August 3.

By August 5, it had dissipated, but not before making landfall near the Texas-Louisiana border. While oil infrastructure in the Gulf of Mexico was initially thought threatened, there was no damage or disruption to supplies.

Rain from Edouardo and its remnants were welcomed in a drought-parched part of the country.

This image is from August 4.

13. Hurricane Hernan

Tropical Storm Hernan formed late on Aug. 6 in the eastern Pacific more than 600 miles from Baja California.

On Aug. 8, Hurricane Hernan formed, and the fifth hurricane in the eastern Pacific of 2008 became the basin\'s first major hurricane, at Category 3 strength, on Aug. 9.

It lost hurricane Strength Aug. 11 and dissipated Aug. 12.

This image is from Aug. 8

14. Tropical Storm Iselle

15. Tropical Storm Fay

Tropical Storm Fay, seen here on Aug. 20, formed Aug. 15 off the coast of the Dominican Republic, and killed 23 there and in Haiti before making a record four landfalls in Florida -- first in the Florida Keys, then on the west coast, then on the east and then again on the Gulf coast.

Tropical Storm Fay was blamed for as many as 14 deaths in Florida, and one each in Georgia and Alabama.

Tropical Storm Fay and its remnants caused extensive and expensive flooding damage, but also brought drought relief to much of the Southeast and mid-Atlantic. Much of Florida was designated a federal disaster zone, as some areas in Florida and Georgia received as much as 27 inches of rain. It was among the top 10 wettest tropical storms ever to drench Florida, and the storm and its remnants brought heavy rains to at least 13 U.S. states.

16. Tropical Storm Julio

Tropical Storm Julio formed in the eastern Pacific off the coast of Baja California on Aug. 23 and moved to landfall on the peninsula Aug. 24.

The storm prompted 2,500 evacuations, and at least one death before dissipating over Mexico.

17. Hurricane Gustav

Tropical Storm Gustav formed August 25 off the coast of Haiti and reached hurricane strength Aug. 26 before making landfall there. This image shows Gustav at Category 1 strength near Haiti on Aug. 26.

Gustav, the deadliest storm of the season in the Atlantic, has been blamed for dozens of deaths, including as many as eight in the U.S.

The storm reached Category 4 strength in the Gulf of Mexico, and prompted the evacuation of some 2 million residents of New Orleans and surrounding areas before making landfall as a Category 2 hurricane just days after the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

18. Tropical Storm Hanna

The eighth named storm of 2008 in the Atlantic, Tropical Storm Hanna formed Aug. 28. Hanna was blamed for 21 deaths in Haiti and it is forecast to menace the Bahamas before reaching hurricane strength and brushing the U.S. East Coast.

19. Tropical Storm Ike

20. Tropical Storm Josephine

21. Tropical Storm Karina

This images shows water vapor from Karina as a tropical depression Sept. 3.

22. Tropical Storm Lowell