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by Staff Writers
Washington (UPI) Nov 28, 2013
No major hurricanes formed in the Atlantic basin in the 2013 hurricane season, something that hasn't happened since 1994, U.S. weather scientists said.
The season, which officially ends Saturday, had the fewest number of hurricanes since 1982, thanks, in large part, to persistent atmospheric conditions over the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea and tropical Atlantic Ocean, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration said Monday.
In terms of the collective strength and duration of named storms and hurricanes, 2013 is expected to rank as the sixth-least-active Atlantic hurricane season since 1950, NOAA said.
"A combination of conditions acted to offset several climate patterns that historically have produced active hurricane seasons," Gerry Bell, lead seasonal hurricane forecaster at NOAA's Climate Prediction Center, said. "As a result, we did not see the large numbers of hurricanes that typically accompany these climate patterns."
Thirteen named storms formed in the Atlantic basin this year and while two, Ingrid and Humberto, became hurricanes, neither became a major hurricane, forecasters said.
Tropical storm Andrea, the first of the season, was the only named storm to make landfall in the United States this year, bringing tornadoes, heavy rain and minor flooding to portions of Florida, eastern Georgia and eastern South Carolina.
While the United States was largely spared in the 2013 season, Mexico suffered through eight storms, including three from the Atlantic basin and five from the eastern North Pacific, NOAA said. Of these eight systems, five struck as tropical storms and three as hurricanes.
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