Eta is the 28^th storm to be named during the 2020 hurricane season. By the convention of having a name, this breaks the previous record of 27 named storms in 2005. However, by meteorological standards, the storm only ties 2005. How is this possible?

Each year, after the season, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) does a reanalysis of systems in the Atlantic Basin. Sometimes they will find evidence that causes reclassification of storms. As an example, damage in Mexico Beach caused by Hurricane Michael in 2018 was determined to be consistent with a category five hurricane rather than what was thought to be a category four at landfall.

In addition to the 27 named storms, 2005 also saw three tropical depressions that did not reach named status as well as a supposed non-tropical low that formed in the eastern Atlantic. According to NHC researchers, that low in fact became a subtropical storm near The Azores on October 4 and should have been named.

Because of this, the 2005 season had 28 systems reach named storm status even though only 27 of them actually received names. While Eta does break the record for most named storms in a single season, one more storm named Theta would officially set a new mark for the most tropical storms in a single season.

There are plenty of records that do already belong to the latest campaign. 11 named storms have made landfall so far, two more than the previous record of 9 in 1916. 6 hurricanes have struck the United States, tying 1886 and 1985. And finally, after Hurricane Zeta, Louisiana became the first state to have 5 named storms make landfall in one season.  

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