Hurricane Delta has set a record for the number of tropical storms to cross the US coast during an annual season after sweeping ashore in Louisiana last week.

Delta became the tenth hurricane or tropical storm to make landfall in the continental US this year, beating the previous high of nine set in 1916.

Colorado State University Meteorologist Philip Klotzbach says this season also marks the first year with multiple hurricane landfalls in Louisiana since 2005 when the state was hit by Cindy, Katrina and Rita.

Delta crossed the coast of Louisiana on Friday evening local time with category two strength before quickly weakening as it brought heavy rain and flooding.

Colorado State University in August forecast an above-normal probability for major hurricanes to make landfall along the continental US coastline and in the Caribbean, partly due to warmer than normal waters in the tropical and sub-tropical Atlantic.

This year has seen 25 named storms compared with an average of 9.6 for the period from 1981 to 2010.