Community Corner
Hurricane Season Ends Quietly for Bradenton
The Tampa Bay area was briefly on edge for three of the 2011 season's 19 named storms, but Florida was spared the worst of this year's tropical weather.
The Tropical storm season ends today and Bradenton along with the entire Tampa Bay area fared well this year.
The 2011 hurricane season produced 19 tropical storms, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Seven of those storms grew into hurricanes, and three of those became major hurricanes. NOAA had predicted 12 to 18 named storms, with up to 10 hurricanes.
The Tampa Bay area briefly came under advisory in August as and , and again in October as . Emily dissolved in the Atlantic, and Irene steered clear of the state, making landfall in the Carolinas and knocking out power on the East Coast as it slogged north over several days. Rina brought rain to Florida but was no longer an organized storm when it came ashore.
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The last major storm systems to threaten the Bay area were part of the prolific 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons. Tropical Storm Bonnie and hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne struck Florida in 2004. Tropical Storm Tammy and hurricanes Dennis, Katrina and Wilma hit the Sunshine State in 2005.
According to NOAA, more than 97 percent of named storms occur during hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30 each year.
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However, forecasters caution that dangerous storm systems can still form outside hurricane season, and they say residents shouldn't get comfortable even though the area has escaped tropical activity in recent years.
“Irene broke the ‘hurricane amnesia’ that can develop when so much time lapses between landfalling storms,” Jack Hayes, director of the National Weather Service, said in a news release. “This season is a reminder that storms can hit any part of our coast and that all regions need to be prepared each and every season.”
Pinellas County officials echo that message.
“People think we’re never going to get hit by another hurricane again," Tom Iovino of the Pinellas County Emergency Operations Center told Patch for . "So the concern we’ve got is that people aren’t going to take the warnings seriously."
NOAA will release its outlook for the 2012 hurricane season in May.
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