Hurricane Season 2007

Today is the official end of the 2007 Hurricane Season. Thinking back over the last six months, you probably wouldn’t have guessed that this season has been above average for named storms.

Dr. Keith Blackwell, a researcher and professor of meteorology talks about hurricanes. “Hurricane tracking and forecasting is very interesting. There’s never a dull moment cause once you think you got things figured out, there is always some surprise that comes along.”

That surprise came early with Subtropical Storm Andrea forming in May, east of Jacksonville.
Barry was next and came ashore as a Tropical Depression near Tampa in June.
Tropical Storm Chantal stayed in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

Then came Dean...the first hurricane of the season, and one of the strongest in recorded history! Dean was the first category five to make landfall at that strength since Hurricane Andrew in 1992.

After Dean, Tropical Storm Erin weakened before moving into South Texas. Erin traveled north into Oklahoma and caused massive flooding!!

At the start of September, the tropics always heat up. Blackwell says, “one place not to be, if you want to stay away from hurricanes was the Caribbean.”

That’s where Hurricane Felix formed and followed Dean’s path.
Felix was intensifying so fast that a Hurricane Hunter mission was aborted because the flight was too turbulent!
Felix made landfall in Nicaragua.

The second and final us land-falling Tropical Storm was Gabrielle that brushed the outer banks of North Carolina.
For the year, there was only one U.S. land-falling hurricane. “We did have one land-falling hurricane, Humberto. which spun up off the Texas Coast very quickly but immediately made landfall.”
Humberto made landfall as a category one storm near Beaumont.
“Our biggest threat in this vicinity this year was Tropical Depression Ten. A lot of people were apprehensive that oh my goodness, maybe this thing will develop, but it never did. It fizzled by the time it got up here and never gained a name.”

After Tropical Depression Ten, the five storms that followed did not impact the United States.

The last storm of the year, and deadliest was Hurricane Noel. As the storm moved north, and out of the Dominican Republic, the remnants produced 40 foot waves near Maine.
"Nobody really is remembering this season as something catastrophic or anything like that. Many of the storms were weak and very short-lived and didn’t amount to much."

I don't think anyone along the Gulf Coast is complaining about this forgetful hurricane season either!