The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season produced a record 30 named storms, beating the previous record of 28 in 2005.

There were so many that the list of 21 conventional names was exhausted and the Greek alphabet was used for only the second time.

The season that ended on Monday also saw the second-highest number of hurricanes on record after 13 of the storms reached hurricane status, and six major hurricanes had top winds of 178km/h or greater.

An average season has 12 named storms, six hurricanes and three become major hurricanes.

This season also set a record for the number of storms that made landfall in the continental US, with 12 such storms.

Of those 12 named storms, six made landfall at hurricane strength, tying the record of six hurricane landfalls also set in 1886 and 1985.

Hurricane season runs from June 1 until November 30, although storms can form before and after those dates.

NOAA said this was the fifth consecutive year with an above-normal Atlantic hurricane season, with 18 above-normal seasons out of the past 26.

Australian Associated Press