The Atlantic hurricane season, which officially ended on 30th November, was quieter than normal, with five hurricanes, compared to a long-term average of 7.2.
By far the most complete and robust data we have for hurricanes is for those which have hit the US coast. The US Hurricane Research Division, which is part of the Federal agency NOAA, have data going back as far as 1851. According to them, hurricane data is pretty reliable since the 1880s, when the coastline became settled.
No Atlantic hurricanes at all have hit the US this year. The graphs below offer the strongest evidence of all that there are no long-term trends, either in the frequency of hurricanes or their intensity. (Major hurricanes are Cat 3 and stronger – these show no increase either.)
This is in marked contrast to the myth regularly peddled by the BBC and others, that hurricanes are getting more powerful. It is worth pointing out in this respect that the strongest hurricane on record to hit the US was the Labor Day hurricane in 1935. The second most powerful was Camille in 1969 and the third was Andrew in 1992.
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