The 2010 hurricane is almost over, at least as far as the official dates go. Every now and then we'll see a December storm or even one in January. They're usually Atlantic storms that don't come close to land.
This year's season wasn't quite a record-breaker. From Alex in June to Tomas, which kicked up in October and fizzled out ten days ago, we saw a total of 19 named storms. Twelve of those storms were hurricanes, and five reached major hurricane strength (category 3 or higher). 2010 is (tied with 1995 and 1887) the third busiest hurricane season in the past 160 years.
The busiest, well I don't need to look that one up. It was 2005, the year that Dennis and Katrina hit my area. That season brought 27 named storms - and four of them blew up between November 18 and January 6, 2006. What was I just saying about post-season storms?
I read one article that stated that none of the storms this season hit the United States. While technically true -- none of the storms made landfall on a U.S. coastline -- the storms did impact the United States. Hermine made landfall in Mexico but quickly moved into Texas. Several storms passed close by and/or dissipated right off the Gulf Coast or Eastern Seaboard. Storms in the Gulf put the BP oil spill clean-up on hold a couple of times.
I'm not saying that we weren't lucky. We were very lucky. It seems impossible that in a year with 19 named storms, the U.S. didn't get hit. Not that I'm complaining! If you'd like to review the 2010 season and learn more about the storms and statistics of 2010, visit Wikipedia. For historical data on storms going back over a hundred years, check out Unisys Weather.* Now, time to start moving those canned goods out of the emergency kit and using them for winter meals.
*UPDATE Unisys changed hands, and the historical hurricane data has been removed from their website.
