Today marks the end of another busy hurricane season. It was more active than predicted, with 19 named storms and 10 hurricanes. But the weather outlook may not be as bad as it seems.
Bay News 9 Meteorologist Julie Marquez says there's so much attention paid to hurricane season now, that this year may have seemed worse than it really was.
"Any year during hurricane season there is going to be a threat if you live along the coast," she said.
"What we are seeing now is that the technology is better, we have satellites that are able to detect storms developing,” Marquez adds.
“So, I think a lot of that gives people the sense that there are more out there than there ever were or maybe they are stronger then they ever were."
The Tampa Bay area did take a hit from Tropical Storm Debby. It brought widespread flooding and a few tornadoes to the area. And Tropical Storm Isaac led to the cancelation of the first day of the Republican National Convention.
Of course, the Northeast coast is still dealing with the effects of Superstorm Sandy. That storm caused almost $65 billion in damages and killed at least 131 people.
Marquez adds currently we are in a period of high tropical activity. She says it began around 1995 and they will usually last about 30 years.
However, even though we are out of hurricane season, Floridians' now get to deal with the severe weather season as cold fronts move across the state.
