STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
The United States is on a winning streak, more precisely, it's a lucky streak, nearly a decade without a major hurricane making landfall in the U.S. Brian McNoldy is a researcher at the University of Miami.
BRIAN MCNOLDY: The last one was Hurricane Wilma in the end of October 2005, and the United States has not had a major hurricane, a Category 3, 4, 5, make landfall since then.
INSKEEP: And there's something significant about that long stretch. It has not happened since the 1860s. The U.S. has had quiet for almost a decade while other nations have not.
MCNOLDY: Other locations like Mexico and Cuba and Bermuda have had major hurricane landfalls, so there hasn't been a lack of major hurricanes. It's just the United States has been lucky.
INSKEEP: Now some people may be listening to this and thinking, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. What about Sandy in 2012 which took dozens of lives and caused tens of billions of dollars in damages and shut down the New York Stock Exchange and even forced New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to postpone Halloween? Well, it turns out Sandy was downgraded to a super storm before it made landfall, so it was not technically a hurricane when it did most of its damage. It is not hard to read off names of storms that you may have weathered without power like Dennis or Rita or Katrina, but those storms happened in or before 2005. McNoldy says there is one state that has not been hit by any hurricane at all in that time, not even a Category 1 or 2.
MCNOLDY: Florida has not had any hurricanes hit it since October 2005. It is a lot of luck, I think.
INSKEEP: There's no explanation for what's happening or rather, not happening. McNoldy cannot find any link to climate change, for example. And meteorologists are predicting a lighter-than-normal hurricane season this year, but McNoldy says hurricanes do not pay attention to weather forecasts.
MCNOLDY: Hurricanes have no idea what happened last week or last year. You could get four major hurricanes in one year and then none for the next 15 years. They have no concept of how long it's been since the last one.
INSKEEP: All of which is to say enjoy it while it lasts. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.