As of Sunday, Nov. 30, the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season comes to a close.
Although the total number of storms is considered slightly below average (as was forecast by WRAL), there were some takeaways from the season.
Other WRAL Top Stories
A bird's eye view of the season
The season produced 13 named storms. Five of those became hurricanes. Three were major hurricanes, and all of those became Category 5 storms.
These Category 5 storms were Erin, Humberto and Melissa.
The record for number of Category 5 storms in a season is four. This was back in 2005, a season that featured storms like Katrina and Wilma.
No hurricane landfalls in the U.S.
Although Chantal did make landfall, it was not a hurricane at the time.
That means that the 2025 season is the first in a decade without a U.S. landfalling hurricane.
That said, we remember Chantal for the flooding and damage it did in places like Durham, Orange and Person Counties.
A sobering reminder of how one storm can make it someone's "active" hurricane season.
Other takeaways
We previously wrote about the climatological peak of Atlantic hurricane season and how eerily "calm" it was.
A lot of this was attributed to more frequent plumes of Saharan dust choking off moisture.
At the same time, there was a wide area of sinking air in portions of the Atlantic that led to a lack of storm development during a time that's usually anything but quiet.
Once storms did develop, they were shoved east of the U.S. by more frequent cold fronts in September and October.
Closer to home, a series of storms like Erin, Humberto and Imelda didn't have to make landfall to take a toll on the Outer Banks.
Several homes collapsed into the ocean due to distant storms like these, in addition to non-tropical Nor'easters.