Relief as 2015 hurricane season draws to a close

The streak continues.

The state of Florida, so synonymous with tropical weather, has not had a hurricane make landfall within its borders in almost 3,700 days, according to flhurricane.com.

It initially didn't always look like that streak would hold up through the year, though.

Hurricane Danny formed in the latter part of August and, for a time, appeared to be on something of a threatening path for us, but it quickly weakened from a hurricane into an open wave.

If Danny threatened us, Tropical Storm Erika which formed roughly a week later, flat-out alarmed the state of Florida. As it moved through the Lesser Antilles, several projections were made of a direct landfall as a hurricane in different areas of the state's peninsula, including the Space Coast at one point, prompting a declared state of emergency as residents began to make preparations.

Fortunately for us, however, Erika never made it to hurricane status and fizzled for good in the area of eastern Cuba and Haiti, though its remnants did bring a bit of rain to the state. Part of the storm's demise can be attributed to land interaction.

Both storms were impacted by strong winds aloft that inhibited development, not an uncommon occurrence in an Atlantic hurricane season that saw ten named storms form, but just three hurricanes.

"Essentially we had a lot of shear and a lot of dust that both kind of combined to put a cap on a real active season," said Jennifer Hubbard, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Tampa.

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Florida stayed quiet in a year where the U.S. coastline as a whole did likewise with only the first two tropical storms of the year in Ana and Bill, respectively, making landfall along the coastline.

The fact that Brevard did escape any tropical impacts was just fine with local residents.

"I am extremely happy, yes," said Amanda Watson of Viera.

"Who would want a hurricane?" added Daniel Wiggins.

But not everyone was unaffected in the Atlantic basin.

To those outside the state, Hurricane Joaquin garnered the most headlines of any storm this season. It formed in late September and meandered about the eastern and central Bahamas, bringing devastation to a few islands before it darted off to the northeast, eventually grazing Bermuda in the process.

Photos: Hurricane Joaquin sends swells to Brevard beaches

Joaquin at one point grew to a near Category 5 storm and was the strongest storm recorded in the Atlantic basin since Hurricane Igor in 2010, according to The Weather Channel.

Another noteworthy occurrence in the otherwise unremarkable year was the formation of Hurricane Fred, which later struck the Cape Verde Islands.

Despite those storms, the fact that a relatively quiet season was predicted and that those numbers for the basin weren't too far off of most projections made for 2015 might make meteorologists feel better about their ability to accurately predict how active a season will be moving forward.

"I think there is a higher-degree of confidence this year just with the prediction that was made in the summer just with that El Nino component," said John Pendergrast, another meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

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This year's forecast of a season less active than normal was made due to El Nino, or a warming of the waters in the eastern Pacific Ocean. That helped to create a less favorable environment in the Atlantic basin for development.

That same phenomenon, though, leaves Florida vulnerable to an increase in severe weather and stronger tornadoes in the winter months, however, as the jet stream moves further south and brings with it more frontal passages and low pressure systems, Pendergrast adds, so what helped in this past hurricane season could hurt us moving forward.

"We've been advertising that quite a bit just based on past moderate to strong past El Nino events," said Pendegrast.

As for next year's hurricane season, Pendergrast says it's too early to tell how active it will be, but the prevailing pattern is expected to last for a while longer.

"It's tough to say what's really going to happen in the spring but there is a high degree of confidence that will be some El Nino into spring," said Pendergrast.

And the hope is that the lengthy time since Florida last experienced a land-falling hurricane won't cause residents to have hurricane amnesia when it does.

"It's something we worry about," added Hubbard. "We certainly hope that people are always prepared and they have a hurricane kit available at any point in the season."

Bonanno has a bachelor's degree in environmental science with meteorology option. Contact him at 321-242-3662, cbonanno@floridatoday.com or follow Chris on Twitter @FTChrisBonanno.