Friday, December 1, 2006

MIAMI, USA (UPI): In sharp contrast to the past two years, the 2006 Atlantic hurricane season ended quietly Thursday with not one hurricane hitting US shores.

Only three tropical storms made landfall, a welcome relief from the previous two years, when nearly a dozen hurricanes battered the United States, especially 2005's Category 5 storms Katrina, Rita and Wilma, the most intense hurricane ever recorded.

Storm activity this year was relatively light overall, the National Hurricane Center in Miami told CNN, with nine named storms and five hurricanes, two of them major.

Four of this season's five hurricanes - Florence, Gordon, Helene and Issac - started to march westward across the Atlantic toward the United States, only to turn out to sea.

Before the season began in June, the hurricane center predicted 13 to 16 named storms in 2006, with eight to 10 hurricanes, four to six of which could become major.

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