THANK YOU, GLOBAL WARMING:

Twelve forecast teams predicted an average of 16 named storms, including eight hurricanes, four major. Yet this season, which ends Saturday, saw only 13 named storms, including two mediocre Category 1 hurricanes. [...]

Forecasters say they didn't foresee that a large-scale atmospheric wind pattern would blanket the tropical Atlantic with dry, sinking air. And they didn't anticipate that Saharan dust would further dry out the atmosphere.

Finally, they failed to anticipate that cooler waters would infiltrate the Atlantic in the spring. That helped stymie storm formation and keep those that did emerge relatively weak and short-lived.

"I think the magnitude of the cooling that occurred in the Atlantic was somewhat overlooked by ourselves and others," said Phil Klotzbach, who along with William Gray initially forecast 18 named storms, including nine hurricanes. "It was one of the largest busts for our research team in the 30 years we've been issuing this report."

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