With the official end of the hurricane season behind them, U.S. coastal residents are no doubt grateful for the relative calm of the 2009 season, although not every year can be expected to be as quiet as this one. Between June 1 and November 30, 2009, only nine named storms developed in the Atlantic basin, three of which became hurricanes. These are the lowest totals in each category since 1997, according to the Insurance Information Institute.

Dr. Robert Hartwig, an economist and president of the Institute said that the 2009 season is a welcome respite from 2008, when hurricanes Gustav and Ike disrupted hundreds of thousands of lives in Louisiana and Texas, and caused $14.65 billion in insured losses.

The nine named storms, according to a Colorado State University analysis of the 2009 Atlantic hurricane season, were, in chronological order:

  • Tropical Storm Ana
  • Hurricane Bill
  • Tropical Storm Claudette
  • Tropical Storm Danny
  • Tropical Storm Erika
  • Hurricane Fred
  • Tropical Storm Grace
  • Tropical Storm Henri
  • Hurricane Ida

Eight of the 10 most costly hurricanes in U.S. history have occurred since 2004. This is the first year since 2006 in which no hurricanes made landfall in the U.S.