La. Has Dodged November Hurricanes, But Will It Last
The hurricane season ends on November 30th, but a named storm has never struck Louisiana in November in 167 years of record keeping.
State Climatologist Barry Keim says the state came close to breaking that streak in 2009, when Tropical Storm Ida churned in the Gulf.
"It got close to the mouth of the Mississippi River, probably caused some tropical storm force winds there, but it actually made landfall near Gulf Shores, Alabama, so Louisiana was spared," Keim said.
This hurricane season has not been quiet. Keim says it ranks as the second most active season with one month to go.
"We've had 16 named storms. Of those we had 10 hurricanes and of those 6 were major hurricanes."
Louisiana prior to this year was spared hurricane or tropical storm landfalls for four seasons. Keim says Mother Nature made up for it this year.
"We had 3 landfalls this past season, with Tropical Storm Cindy in late June, followed by Tropical Storm Harvey in August and then Hurricane Nate in early October."