One named tropical system threatened the Florida coast this hurricane season.
But Tropical Storm Erika fizzled out over Cuba this summer, meaning that the hurricane season ended on Monday marking the 10th year without a major storm making landfall in Florida.
The Florida phenomenon is bizarre, meteorologists say, when taking into consideration rising temperature records and a volatile, active Atlantic Ocean Basin over the past decade.
“It’s been amazing the state has avoided a hurricane landfall,” said National Weather Service Warning Coordination Meteorologist Mark Wool.
Eleven named storms formed this year, despite forecasters predicting a less-than-active season. Storms drenched the Carolinas, Texas and the Caribbean in 2015, but the shift in the past 10 years has been increased activity along the East Coast, Wool said.
Forecasters predicted between six and 11 storms with about half growing to hurricane strength. Four turned into hurricanes and two, Joaquin and Danny, were considered major storms.
In late August, Erika threatened to careen up the west coast of Florida into the Big Bend, prompting Gov. Rick Scott to declare a state of emergency as it passed by South Florida and the Keys. The storm fizzled out as it passed over Cuba the next day.
The last storm to directly hit Tallahassee was Category 2 Hurricane Kate in Nov. 21, 1985, 30 years ago.
From the Tallahassee Democrat
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