The 2009 hurricane season was expected to be a "slow" season, & that's how it ended up. There were only 9 named storms, only 3 of which became hurricanes (Bill, Fred, Ida). None of the hurricanes made landfall while several tropical storms did manage to hit -- or at least touch -- land.
The season was particularly quiet for the U.S. mainland. Only 2 named storms made landfall but were relatively minor tropical storms.
(1) "Claudette" -- made landfall in the Fl. Panhandle on Aug. 17th after quickly forming on the 16th in the far Eastern Gulf west of Tampa. The storm continued to organize as it moved northwest but ran out of water as it hit the Panhandle less than 24 hours later. Damage was minor with little significant storm surge.
(2) "Ida" was a late season Nov. storm that developed in the far Western Caribbean on Nov. 4th. "Ida" hit the Central American coast as a tropical storm then re-emerged over the Northwest Caribbean where it quickly reorganized & strengthened becoming the third hurricane of the season as it moved through the Yucatan Channel. "Ida" remained relatively strong in the Southern Gulf before encountering much cooler water + increasing west & southwest shear. The storm came ashore just south/southeast of Mobile, AL early in the morning Nov. 10th as a weakening tropical storm. While damage was minor & storm surge limitied to about 3 feet, "Ida" was noteworthy in that it was just the third U.S. landfalling tropical cyclone in Nov. since 1980. (Hurricane "Kate" in 1985 & tropical storm "Gordon" in 1994).
The map below is courtesy Unisys. The season was forecast to have low numbers which turned out to be accurate thanks to two primary factors:
(1) A developing El Nino (warming of the equatorial Pacific waters that has a tendency to increase shear over the Atlantic Basin).....
(2) An abundance of dry mid & upper level air that had a tendency to remain over much of the Atlantic Basin for most of the season.
Just a brief peek ahead to next season.....indications are that the El Nino will peak at about mid winter with a return to neutral ENSO conditions for later in 2010, possibly even tilting a bit toward La Nina conditions again. If so, the 2010 hurricane season should be more active.
