During 2004, tropical cyclones formed within seven different tropical cyclone basins, located within various parts of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. During the year, a total of 132 systems formed with 82 of these developing further and were named by the responsible warning centre. The strongest tropical cyclone of the year was Cyclone Gafilo, which was estimated to have a minimum barometric pressure of 895 hPa (26.43 inHg). The most active basin in the year was the Western Pacific, which documented 29 named systems, while the North Atlantic 15 named systems formed. Conversely, both the Eastern Pacific hurricane and North Indian Ocean cyclone seasons experienced a below average number of named systems, numbering 12 and 4, respectively. Activity across the southern hemisphere's three basins—South-West Indian, Australian, and South Pacific—was spread evenly, with each region recording seven named storms apiece. Throughout the year, 28 Category 3 tropical cyclones formed, including seven Category 5 tropical cyclones formed in the year. The accumulated cyclone energy (ACE) index for the 2004 (seven basins combined), as calculated by Colorado State University was 1024.4 units.

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Quick Facts Year boundaries, First system ...

Tropical cyclones in 2004
Year summary map
Year boundaries
First system	Ken
Formed	January 1, 2004
Last system	Raymond
Dissipated	January 10, 2005
Strongest system
Name	Gafilo
Lowest pressure	895 mbar (hPa); 26.43 inHg
Longest lasting system
Name	Ivan
Duration	22 days
Year statistics
Total systems	130
Named systems	80
Total fatalities	6,609 (97)
Total damage	$80.672 billion (2004 USD)
Related articles 2004 Atlantic hurricane season 2004 Pacific hurricane season 2004 Pacific typhoon season 2004 North Indian Ocean cyclone season 2003–04 South-West Indian Ocean cyclone season 2004–05 South-West Indian Ocean cyclone season 2003–04 Australian region cyclone season 2004–05 Australian region cyclone season 2003–04 South Pacific cyclone season 2004–05 South Pacific cyclone season
Other years 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006

Close

The costliest tropical cyclone was Hurricane Ivan, which struck Caribbean and United States in September causing a tornado outbreak, with US$26.1 billion in damage. The deadliest tropical cyclone of the year was Hurricane Jeanne who killed for at least 3,006 deaths in Haiti.

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Due to a Modoki El Niño – a rare type of El Niño in which unfavorable conditions are produced over the eastern Pacific instead of the Atlantic basin due to warmer sea surface temperatures farther west along the equatorial Pacific – activity was above average in North Atlantic Ocean.^[1]

A total of 138 systems formed globally in the year with 60 of them causing significant damage, deaths, and/or setting records for their basin.

• Tropical cyclones by year
• List of earthquakes in 2004
• Tornadoes of 2004
• 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami

¹ Only systems that formed either on or after January 1, 2004 are counted in the seasonal totals.
² Only systems that formed either before or on December 31, 2004 are counted in the seasonal totals.
³ The wind speeds for this tropical cyclone/basin are based on the IMD scale which uses 3-minute sustained winds.
⁴ The wind speeds for this tropical cyclone/basin are based on the Saffir–Simpson scale which uses 1-minute sustained winds.
⁵The wind speeds for this tropical cyclone are based on Météo-France which uses gust winds.