Friday, December 01, 2006

It's Over!

TALLAHASSEE (AP) — A quiet hurricane season ended on Thursday and it looks as though the final totals will be nine named storms and five hurricanes.

All of the hurricanes spun to the east of the United States except Ernesto, which sputtered into a tropical storm before it landed in South Florida.

Two tropical storms hit Florida this year - the other was Alberto, which made landfall in the Big Bend in June.

What a difference a year makes. Last year there were a record 27 named storms and 15 hurricanes, four of which reached Category 5 strength.

This year's hurricane season never came close to the predictions.

Experts say the quiet season was due to a prevailing high pressure system that shifted to the east and helped steer storms away from the U-S.

But Florida Emergency Management Director Craig Fugate says we are still in an active cycle of hurricane activity that could last another twenty years.

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved)