The Atlantic hurricane season officially ends Friday, sparing Texas a repeat of last year's Harvey.
This year's above average season saw 15 named storms -- including two major hurricanes which both made landfall after Labor Day. Most hurricane watchers had already lowered their forecast in August.
“Although a lot of people were shying away because of the cooler than normal ocean water temperatures off in the eastern Atlantic, the water was very warm in the Caribbean, Gulf and east of the Carolinas,” says David Dilley with Global Weather Oscillations, which boasts the most accurate forecast three years running.
“We had 15 named storms, we did predict 16. Eight hurricanes, we predicted eight. And we did predict two major impact hurricanes, so we were right on the money and stuck to our guns in mid-August when everyone else was lowering their forecast.”
So what's on tap for next year?
“We expect fewer, but yet we're going to have at least one good landfall,” says Dilley, adding ocean temperatures depend on how cold it gets this winter.