We've reached the end of the official 2023 hurricane season unscathed in Louisiana.
Meteorologist Kevin Gilmore of the Slidell National Weather Service says that's despite the fact there were more than 20 named storms that developed over the six-month period.
He says, "Even though it may not seem like it we did have an above average year with the amount of tropical activity."
Gilmore in totaling up the systems, the Atlantic Basin, says seven of them were hurricanes with "three intensified to major hurricanes."
Three systems impacted the continental United States. He says, "one of those did impact Florida as a Category 3, So that was Hurricane Idalia."
As for other parts of the Gulf, Gilmore says, "We were alright. We did not have any direct local impacts and we did have an above normal season even though we had a strong El Nino which typically is due to increased wind shear it leads to less activity.
But, according to Gilmore, we did have record warm Atlantic sea surface temperatures while helped lead to the above active season.
Most of the hurricane and tropical storm activity was out in the mid-Atlantic.
Gilmore says, "That's where we like to see them. Out in the water. Spinning, They can do whatever they want as long as they don't touch land."
As far as future hurricane seasons, the warmer waters of the Atlantic could be indicative of more activity rather than less.
Gilmore notes, "We're seeing record warm Atlantic temperatures and we're reaching levels that we haven't seen."
However, he notes there are any number of factors that do into predicting how active a hurricane season will be, calling it a "wait and see game."
