Weather & Science
A Once-Quiet Florida County Is Now a Hurricane Magnet — and Forecasters Are Puzzled
Hot oceans and La Niña could be helping to fuel the shift in storm activity.
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For more than a century, Florida’s Taylor County saw the fewest hurricane strikes of any place on the US Gulf Coast. In the last year, that peace has been shattered.
Helene, which has killed more than a hundred people across the South, was the third hurricane to hit the county in roughly the past 13 months. It followed Debby in August and Idalia about a year earlier. Forecasters aren’t sure why the area’s storm activity has surged, but they point to a couple of potential culprits: Hot oceans and La Niña.