|
Hurricane season ends with whimper
By Times staff writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published December 1, 2000
As the calendar flips to a new month, the 2000 hurricane season is officially over.
Technically, this was an above-average year for hurricanes, but Florida and the rest of the United States were relatively unscathed. For the first time in six years, the country's Atlantic and Gulf coasts weren't hit by any hurricanes at all.
Our closest call was Hurricane Gordon, which brushed past the Tampa Bay area in mid-September. It weakened into a tropical storm before hitting land in the state's Big Bend area. Tropical Storm Helene hit the Florida Panhandle a few days later.
Both storms brought heavy rain and storm surges, causing nearly $27-million in damage but no deaths or injuries.
Florida's biggest false alarm was Hurricane Debby. In August, forecasters predicted Debby would hit the Florida Keys, so 15,000 tourists were told to leave. Debby veered out to sea.
This year's deadliest Atlantic storm was Hurricane Keith, which killed at least 12 people in Belize, Nicaragua and parts of Mexico in early October.
This season had 14 named storms, eight of those hurricanes. Three of the eight -- Alberto, Isaac and Keith -- were major hurricanes. An average year has 10 named storms, six hurricanes and two major hurricanes.
"It's been an above average year, but it has seemed kind of quiet because we didn't have a lot of big storms threatening the U.S.," said Jack Beven, a forecaster with the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 through Nov. 30.
Back to State news
© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111
 |
