DECEMBER 1, 2005 -- The 2005 hurricane season has been one for the record books, with the 26th storm of the season, Epsilon, still going on in the central Atlantic. Overall, there have been 26 named storms, 13 hurricanes, and seven hurricanes that hit category 3 strength, all of which are two to three times the long term averages. Three of those seveb intense hurricanes, Katrina, Rita, and Wilma, hit category 5 strength.

Katrina certainly was the worst storm of the season to make landfall on the morning of August 29 in southeastern Louisiana and the Mississippi coast and becoming the most costly hurricane in U.S. history, with an estimated $80 billion worth of damage.

Locally, Hurricane Ophelia passed just offshore on September 14, with the northern and western eyewall affecting our coastal counties as the center of the storm stayed just offshore.

Two of this year's storms may get a postumous upgrade as well. The National Hurricane Center is looking into whether Cindy was a minimal hurricane at landfall in Louisiana in early July, and whether Hurricane Emily briefly reached category 5 strength in the Caribbean in mid-July.