2021 Atlantic hurricane season (Cooper's Version)

The 2021 Atlantic hurricane season was the final year in a consecutive string of three very active seasons. The season officially began on June 1 and ended on November 30. These dates historically describe the period of year when most tropical cyclones form in the Atlantic basin. However, the season's first storm, Ana, developed on May 19, over a week before the season officially began. The season concluded with Hurricane Sam transitioning to an extratropical cyclone on December 4.

A total of 18 named storms formed during 2021, with 10 of them becoming hurricanes and 5 becoming major hurricanes, a total above the seasonal average. In late August, Hurricane Henri struck the Yucatán Peninsula as a Category 4 hurricane with devastating impact. In early September, Hurricane Kate struck Central America just less than a year after Hurricane Omar devastated the region. In early December, Hurricane Sam became the latest major hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic basin, as well as the first to occur outside the season's official boundaries.

Tropical Storm Ana
A surface trough interacted with an upper-level low on May 16, producing a large area of low pressure north of the Leeward Islands. The low drifted westward over the next few days and gradually organized. Late on May 19, the low acquired enough tropical characteristics to be classified as a tropical depression. Gradual development ensued as the depression moved over warmer waters, and it strengthened into Tropical Storm Ana on May 20.

Tropical Storm Julian
A large tropical wave moved off the coast of Africa on August 29. The wave moved across the tropical Atlantic at low latitudes and slowly organized. A reconnaissance aircraft investigating the system on September 2 found a broad but well-defined circulation, as well as sustained tropical storm-force winds. Thus, the NHC classified the system as Tropical Storm Julian at 12:00 UTC. Because wind shear was believed to be weak, the NHC forecasted Julian to be at least a strong tropical storm by the end of the week as it drifted slowly northwestward. Unexpectedly, Julian failed to strengthen significantly, and it weakened to a tropical depression late on September 3. Early the following day, Julian was declared an open wave after lacking a center of circulation for several hours.

Hurricane Kate
A westward-moving tropical wave, which was first monitored off the coast of Africa on August 31, organized into a tropical depression while well east of the Windward Islands on September 5. The depression tracked westward and gradually strengthened, becoming Tropical Storm Kate mid-day on September 6. As it moved west-northwestward into the Caribbean Sea, Kate continued to strengthen amidst favorable environmental conditions. After becoming a hurricane on September 8, Kate began to rapidly intensify, reaching major hurricane status by September 9. On September 10, Kate reached its peak intensity with maximum sustained winds of 165 mph (270 km/h) while located south of the island of Hispaniola.

Storm names
The following list of names was used for named storms that formed in the North Atlantic in 2021. The names not retired from this list were used again in the 2027 season. This was the same list used in the 2015 season, with the exceptions of Elsa and Julian, which replaced Erika and Joaquin, respectively. The names Elsa, Julian, Rose, and Sam were used for the first time this year.

Retirement
On March 30, 2022, at the 44th session of the RA IV hurricane committee, the World Meteorological Organization retired the names Henri, Kate, and Nicholas from its rotating name lists due to the amount of deaths and damage they caused, and they will not be used again for another Atlantic hurricane. They were replaced with Horatio, Kendra, and Neil for the 2027 season.

Season effects
This is a table of all the storms that formed in the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season. It includes their duration, names, affected areas, damages, and death totals. Deaths in parentheses are additional and indirect (an example of an indirect death would be a traffic accident), but were still related to that storm. Damage and deaths include totals while the storm was extratropical, a tropical wave, or a low, and all the damage figures are in 2021 USD. Potential tropical cyclones are not included in this table.