2017 Atlantic hurricane season (Sassmaster15/Money Hurricane/CobraStrike)

The 2017 Atlantic hurricane season became one of the most active hurricane seasons on record, only behind 2005 and 1950 in terms of named storms, hurricanes, and major hurricanes. With the continued La Niña event from 2016, activity was even higher than the previous season. The season was responsible for 26 depressions, of which 22 became named storms, 17 became hurricanes, and a record-tying eight became major hurricanes - a number not seen since 1950. Most tropical cyclones had devastating effects on land, with the southeastern continental United States and Caribbean taking devastating hits from many of the historic storms.

May & June
The season started nearly a month earlier than the official start date of June 1, with Tropical Depression One, later Hurricane Arlene, on May 12. Arlene made landfall on the Turks and Caicos in its weakening phase on May 15 as a strong tropical storm, later making landfall in southern Florida, causing minimal damage. The second pre-season storm developed weeks later on May 24, with this storm becoming Tropical Storm Bret a day later. Bret stayed out to sea during its lifetime, having caused no damage or fatalities.

June got off to an active start, much like in 2016, with the formation of a system that later became Hurricane Cindy, the first major hurricane of the season and the most intense tropical cyclone to form in June, with a minimum pressure of 952 mbar. Cindy took a track similar to Arlene less than a month earlier, causing severe damage in Turks & Caicos as well as the Bahamas as a major hurricane, with landfall in Miami, Florida as a Category 1 storm. Cindy became extratropical over the Gulf of Mexico and then made landfall in New Orleans as a regenerated subtropical storm with 60 MPH winds, causing minimal damage. Tropical Depression Four developed later in the month off the coast of South Carolina and traveling offshore the Eastern United States, bringing rain showers and flash flooding.

July & August
Tropical Storm Don formed on July 1 east of Barbados and later made landfall there as a tropical depression, bringing heavy rain showers and thunderstorms that persisted for an entire day. The system later strengthened into Don over the Caribbean, peaking at 50 MPH prior to weakening back down to a depression and hitting Nicaragua. On July 19, an extratropical system merged with a tropical wave which later gave way to Hurricane Emily, a powerful Category 4 hurricane, which later became the most intense Atlantic hurricane to form before August, ironically, breaking the record set by Hurricane Emily of 2005, which peaked as a Category 5 hurricane with minimum pressure of 929 mbar. Hurricane Emily of 2017, however, while a Category 4, hit a minimum pressure of 921 mbar at peak, going on to cause damage in Puerto Rico and South Carolina as a strong Category 4 hurricane. A tropical wave developed into what would become Hurricane Franklin developed a day later, peaking as a 90 MPH Category 1 hurricane that would cause massive damage across Cape Verde, with the last storm to do that being Hurricane Fred of 2015. Franklin would later weaken to a tropical storm as it tracked northwest across the Northern Atlantic, making landfall in Bermuda as a 60 MPH tropical storm.

August became one of the most active months of the season with a total of seven storms forming during the month. Tropical Storm Gert developed from an extratropical low off the coast of South Carolina and tracked northeast for a period of two days as a weak tropical storm prior to making landfall in Newfoundland as an extratropical system. Hurricane Harvey developed on August 6 as a tropical storm near Cape Verde, eventually becoming a Category 4 major hurricane prior to making landfall in North Carolina as a high-end Category 2, causing widespread damage. Tropical Storm Irma developed three days later in the Gulf of Mexico, eventually making landfall in Port Arthur, Texas, resulting in a temporary shutdown of the oil refineries; however, these were re-opened shortly afterwards as damages were not as bad as initially anticipated. Hurricane Jose formed an extratropical storm/tropical wave merger in the Caribbean on August 13, eventually making landfall in Cuba as a 70 MPH tropical storm, causing significant damage comparable to Dennis of 2005. Jose later strengthened to an 80 MPH Category 1 hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico, making landfall in Morgan City, Louisiana at that intensity, with damages amounting to nearly $700 million due to a large wind field and storm surge. Hurricane Katia was a powerful and long-lived Category 4 hurricane that formed from a Cape Verde tropical wave, eventually making an indirect hit on the Lesser Antilles and Puerto Rico as a Category 2 hurricane, which was still recovering from Hurricane Emily's hit earlier in the season. Katia then strengthened to Category 4 north of Turks & Caicos, followed by landfall in Bermuda at that intensity, which was still trying to rebuild from a direct hit from Category 5 Hurricane Hermine in the previous season. Katia later weakened to a Category 2 as the storm continued to track northward into Nova Scotia as a Category 2 hurricane, becoming one of the most damaging storms to make landfall there since Juan of 2003.