Subscribe to one of our news e-mail lists. The active 2000 hurricane season that ended Thursday might suggest that the storm onslaught can't get much worse.
New research shows that hurricane activity runs in cycles spanning thousands of years.
And while at least 113 major hurricanes hit the U.S. Gulf and Atlantic Coasts during the last 50 years, the 20th century is at the tail end of a 1,000-year quiet cycle. There were relatively few intense or catastrophic hurricane strikes along the Gulf Coast. Fourteen named storms hovered over the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea, eight becoming hurricanes and three reaching major hurricane strength. Despite this, no hurricanes directly hit the United States this year. The trough also provided unfavorable conditions aloft, which weakens the storms.