Where Have the Hurricanes Been?

Chicago - 2009 will go down as one of the quietest hurricane seasons in decades.

The United States had no hurricane strikes, and only two hits from two tropical storms. Ida and Claudette, both relatively minor storms, moved in from the Gulf of Mexico, pushing in across the Florida panhandle and Mobile Bay.

So why so little activity? There are two major causes.

First, the winds that normally blow from West to East across the mid section of the U.S. shifted slightly to the South. Those winds cause "shearing" (a cross wind that cuts off of the top of storms and prevents them from growing).

Additionally, the "El Nino" effect has become more pronounced, further causing not only wind shear across the Caribbean, but also a vast area of "sinking" air that further prevents storms from forming by keeping a "lid" on the atmosphere.