Record Set: Absence of Major Hurricanes in U.S.

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Roger Pielke, Jr.
Today is the last official day of the 2011 hurricane season. The biggest news this year was Hurricane Irene which was a weak storm that caused catastrophic flooding in the Northeast. But, Irene was relatively weak.

My friend Roger Pielke, Jr. has an interesting blog post about a new record we are about to set: The longest period without a major (defined as category 3 or higher) hurricane striking the United States will be set on December 4 and the record number of days will increase each day until at least the 2012 season begins next summer. Roger asks the question: Who would have predicted this in the wake of Katrina when the pro-global warming people were predicting ever more frequent and severe hurricanes? 

Of course, in the comments to Roger's posting, there is the usual attempt to find some reason to find something wrong with his point:
Except that worldwide hurricane activity continues at below normal levels as calculated by Dr. Ryan Maue:
click to enlarge
The point made, multiple times, on this blog stands: There is no scientific evidence of a significant increase in major storms either in the U.S. or worldwide. 

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