TAMPA, Fla. — Sunday marked the official end of hurricane season. It was a quiet one in the Tampa Bay area compared to years past, and that wasn’t lost on homeowners who were hit hard in 2024.
"How do you feel today knowing that the 2025 hurricane season is officially behind us?” asked Tampa Bay 28 reporter Mary O’Connell.
“Yay!” Carlton Bryant said through laughter.
Bryant lives off South West Shore Boulevard in Tampa.
Tampa Bay 28 first spoke with him last year, right after Hurricane Helene devastated the neighborhood.
We checked back in with him now, more than 365 days later, as we closed the book on another hurricane season.
“Huge relief,” he said. "I think all the neighbors, everyone in South Tampa are just glad that we didn’t have to live through that again.”
But why was this season so quiet?
“We had no landfall in US hurricanes this season at all,” said Tampa Bay 28 Meteorologist Ally Blake.
Blake explained what was behind this year’s season.
"We just had a specific weather pattern set up where we had lots of troughs. We have ridges and troughs. We say ridges keep us nice and clear, and troughs are when we get fronts, so to speak. We just had so many that came across the US, so when anything would get close, you can see a lot of those turns, the trough would come across the US and would take it away,” she said. “Another thing that happened this season, why we were so quiet was we had a lot of Saharan dust.”
But as Blake pointed out, it really only takes one storm to make it a bad season.
“We just had so many turn away from us that it was quiet, and yes that is unusual, but I feel like our unusual changes also every year,” said Blake.
Residents in Tampa know how a hurricane can change the neighborhood's landscape.
“As you can see, some of these other houses that have been torn down now because they just weren’t livable and couldn’t be fixed,” said Bryant.
While it’s too early to tell what the 2026 season will bring, neighbors are staying prepared to weather any storm.
“Not too worried about it,” said Bryant. "We know what to do now."
Share Your Story with Mary
Mary O’Connell has a primary focus on education-related stories for Tampa Bay 28. But she also keeps an eye on public health concerns and the always-changing car insurance market. Reach out to Mary to share any of your questions or concerns.
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