( Douglas H. Wheelock/NASA via Getty Images)
( Douglas H. Wheelock/NASA via Getty Images)
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Hurricane Season 2013 is just about over and we can all breath a little easier now that it is November. In the history of tracking tropical systems no hurricane has ever made landfall on the Louisiana coast during the month of November. Tropical storms and tropical depressions have crossed our coastline in November but no storm designated as a hurricane has done so.

The Atlantic hurricane season was quite active but fortunately not that costly. Mexico was probably the hardest hit as far as life and property damage was concerned. It actually took until almost the peak of the season in September for a storm achieve hurricane status. Here is how the season has unfolded so far.

The month of June saw two tropical storms, Andrea and Barry.  Andrea formed in the Gulf of Mexico and then moved northeast making land fall in the big bend area of Florida. Barry formed in the Carribbean Sea and was more of a problem for Belize, Nicarauga and Mexico. While the winds of Barry were not strong, the copious amounts of rainfall did cause death and destruction in Central America and Mexico.

In July Tropical Storm Chantal was the only named storm.  Chantal formed in the Caribbean Sea and looked like it could be a major issue for the Gulf Coast. Fortunately conditions in the atmosphere made Chantal a very short lived system. It fell apart just a few days after achieving tropical storm status.

August saw the temperature and the tropical activity heat up. There were three named systems in August. Tropical Storm Dorian formed in the far eastern Atlantic around the Cape Verde Islands. The system weakened and moved toward the United States but never regenerated to tropical storm status.  Erin was the second named tropical system of August. It spun up near Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula but was a victim of strong upper level winds and it faded away causing only heavy rains.  Tropical storm Fernand developed in late August in the Bay of Campeche. The system was a major rain maker and caused a lot of flooding along the eastern Gulf coast of Mexico.

September was the peak of the hurricane season and the first time we had a system develop to full hurricane status.  First there was tropical storm Gabrielle that formed and fizzled in the Caribbean Sea. In the far east Atlantic the season finally got its first hurricane when Humberto formed near the Cape Verde Islands. Humberto was not an issue for any major land mass. Ingrid was the second hurricane of the season and formed in the Bay of Campeche and proceeded to create more problems for that portion of the country that had just been inundated by Fernand.

October brought three more named systems to the warm waters of the Atlantic basin. There was Jerry that formed in the mid-Atlantic and was not an issue. There was Karen that was very close to being an issue for Louisiana. Karen was on a direct track for the Louisiana coast but an approaching cold front moved the storm off to the east and also deterred any major development before the storm made landfall. Lorenzo was the third system to develop in October. It formed near Bermuda in the central Atlantic Ocean and did not cause any problems for any major land mass.

We are now into November and the outlook is very quiet for the rest of the month. Sea surface temperatures are starting to cool down and a parade of cold fronts from Canada will soon be part of the dominate weather pattern. We will soon be more preoccupied with heavy coats and long pants than hurricane kits and bug spray. We have been very fortunate this tropical season, let's hope next season we will be just as fortunate.

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