"This Year's Hurricane Season Offered Mixed Messages"

"MIAMI -- Hurricane season 2012, which officially ends Saturday, will go down in hstory as the year of Superstorm Sandy, which carved a path of death and devastation from the Caribbean to the Jersey Shore."

"Scientifically speaking, it also was notable for something it was not: intense. For the third consecutive season, the tropics churned out what not long ago would rank as an abnormally large number of storms - yet curiously only one of 19 managed to reach Category 3 strength.

 It wasn't Sandy. It was otherwise forgettable Michael, which spent all of a half-day with its maximum winds above the "major" benchmark of 111 mph before spinning off into oblivion in the far-off Atlantic Ocean.

By the old-school yardstick of named storms, 2012 ranked among the busiest hurricane season on record. By broader and more sophisticated measures, it was sort of middling."

Curtis Morgan reports for the Miami Herald December 30, 2012.

SEE ALSO:

"'Unusual' Hurricane Season Among Busiest, But Lacked Strength Besides Sandy" (Baltimore Sun)

"Senators Say Sandy Poses Severe Challenge To Climate Skeptics" (ClimateWire)

"Atlantic Hurricane Season Ends With 19 Storms" (Bloomberg Businessweek)

"NOAA: 2012 Hurricane Season 'Above Normal'" (Fierce Homeland Security)

"Third Most Active Hurricane Season on Record (Tie) Ends Friday" (Capital Weather Gang/Wash Post)