Hurricane Andrew 30 Years Ago Proved 'It Only Takes One' to Make a Bad Year

It's been said for years because, no matter how active or inactive a season may be or be forecasted to be, "it only takes one" storm tracking over land to cause serious issues so coastal residents should be prepared for that each and every year.

There is no better example of this than what happened 30 years ago this summer.

Just six named storms and one subtropical storm roamed the Atlantic basin in the 1992 hurricane season. In terms of just numbers, that would qualify as a "quiet" hurricane season because it's well below the 30-year average (1991-2020) of 14 named storms per season in the Atlantic.

Only, one of those storms was Category 5 Hurricane Andrew, which devastated South Florida with wind damage.

About 125,000 homes were damaged or destroyed by Andrew. At the time, Andrew was the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history.

Andrew is just one of four hurricanes to make landfall in the U.S. at Category 5 strength. It defied the odds by also striking in one of the least active Atlantic hurricane seasons in the last 30 years.

The 2010 hurricane season featured 19 named storms, including 12 hurricanes. Despite the highly active season, there were no U.S. hurricane landfalls, although Earl did brush North Carolina's Outer Banks. Tropical storms Bonnie and Hermine also affected the U.S., but only the latter system had significant impacts when it produced heavy rain in Texas.

All of this proves that you can't judge the impacts of a hurricane season based on the number of storms forecast before the season begins.

This year's hurricane season is predicted to be another active one, or more like 2010 when it comes to the number of storms that form in the Atlantic. However, it's impossible to know what impacts there might be since that depends on longer-range steering patterns.

One to two U.S. hurricane landfalls are considered average for a season, according to NOAA's Hurricane Research Division.

If you’re along the East or Gulf coasts, or even miles inland, you should have a plan to be prepared for hurricane season each year. The recent stretch of at least one U.S. hurricane landfall for seven consecutive years serves as a reminder.

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