2022 Atlantic Hurricane Season (Akio)

The 2022 Atlantic Hurricane Season was the most active hurricane season recorded, surpassing 2005.

May
Tropical Cyclone Genesis began early for the first time since 2016, with Alex forming on May 11. Alex intensified into a hurricane before striking Florida. Alex then crossed into the Atlantic Ocean and intensified into a Category 3 Hurricane, only the second in the month, with the other being Hurricane Able of 1951. At the end of the month, Bonnie formed, making 2022 only the fifth season on record to have two pre-season storms, and the first to have two pre-season hurricanes, as before landfall, Bonnie peaked as a Category 1 Hurricane.

June
June was an active month, with four depressions, three named storms, and one hurricane. The first was Hurricane Colin, which struck North Carolina as a Category 4, becoming the first Category 4 storm and landfall in the month of June, as well as the strongest June hurricane. Late in the month, Tropical Storms Danielle and Earl formed back-to-back in the Western Caribbean, with Danielle striking Jamaica and Cuba, and Earl striking Cuba and Florida. At the very end of the month, Tropical Depression Six formed in the Bay of Campeche and did not strengthen before it made landfall.

July
The first July storm formed on July 4 with the formation of Hurricane Fiona, which reached Category 5 intensity. Fiona became the first storm of the season to not directly make landfall, however it did brush Anguilla as a Category 4, the British Virgin Islands, Hispaniola, and The Bahamas as a Category 5, and North Carolina as a Category 2 before dissipating. Gaston formed in the Northwestern Atlantic as a Subtropical Storm 3 days later and turned fully tropical before striking Massachusetts. Hermine, another Caribbean storm, formed in the middle of the month and struck both the Yucatan Peninsula and Louisiana. A few days later, Ian formed in the Eastern Caribbean and struck Hispaniola as a hurricane. The final storm of the month, Tropical Depression Eleven, failed to strengthen into a Tropical Storm before striking the Florida Panhandle.

August
August got off to a fast start with the first depression forming on August 1. The depression would later intensify into Hurricane Julia, which would cross Hispaniola as a Category 2 hurricane. Tropical Storm Karl formed on August 4 in the Bay of Campeche and made 2 landfalls in Mexico before dissipating. Hurricane Lisa formed on August 11 and struck both Florida and Louisiana as a Category 1 hurricane. The formation of Lisa began a wave with storms constantly forming in the basin. This wave would last until early October. Major Hurricane Martin formed on August 14 and made 2 landfalls in Central America before crossing into the Eastern Pacific Basin. Hurricane Nicole formed on August 17 and traversed the Caribbean to affect all of Mexico, and then Texas later in the month. Tropical Storm Owen formed the day after the formation of Nicole, and continued to dissipate and regenerate near Bermuda for the remainder of the month.

The highlight of not only the month, but the entire season, was by far Hurricane Paula. Paula formed near Africa on August 21, and would track across the Caribbean, reaching a worldwide record 230 MPH and 859 millibars. Paula would make 3 Category 5 landfalls. The first was in Southern Nicaragua, which had also been affected by Hurricane Martin earlier in the month. Paula then made landfall in Mexico from the Pacific Side, becoming the first storm to make a Category 5 landfall on Mexico's Pacific Coast. Paula made it's third Category 5 landfall on the Alabama/Mississippi border. Paula would last for the remainder of August and the first two-thirds of September. Paula also affected Europe while Ex-Tropical.

The final storm of the month, Hurricane Richard, formed on August 24 in the Eastern Atlantic and caused no impacts to land.

Naming
These are the names that were used for the North Atlantic in 2022. The names Martin, Owen, Tobias, Virginie, and Walter were used in the Atlantic for the first time this year. This is the same naming list as 2016, with the exceptions of Martin and Owen, which replaced Matthew and Otto after they were retired that year. The name Tobias replaced Tomas after it was retired in the 2010 season, but was not used in the 2016 season. The names Virginie and Walter were put on the list when it was first used in 1980, however neither name had been used until 2022. All 21 names were used this year.

For the second time in history, the main list was exhausted and therefore the Greek Alphabet was used. Of the 24 letters, 11 were used, with the names Eta, Theta, Iota, Kappa, and Lambda being used for the first time this year.

Retirement
This will be announced when the season is finished.