What was done
The authors analyzed historical data relating to tropical storm and hurricane strikes along the southeast U.S. coast from South Padre Island, Texas to Cape Hatteras, North Carolina for the 100-year period 1901-2000.

What was learned
Temporal variability of tropical storm and hurricane strikes was found to be "great and significant," with most coastal sites experiencing "pronounced clusters of strikes separated by tens of years with very few strikes."  With respect to the climate alarmist claim of a tendency for increased storminess during warmer El Niņo years, the data just didn't cooperate.  For tropical storms and hurricanes together, the authors found an average of 1.7 storms per El Niņo season, 2.6 per neutral season, and 3.3 per La Niņa season.  For hurricanes only, the average rate of occurrence ranged from 0.5 per El Niņo season to 1.7 per La Niņa season.

What it means
"Clearly," say the authors, "more tropical storm and hurricane events can be anticipated during La Niņa seasons and fewer during El Niņo seasons," which is just the opposite of what climate alarmists keep telling us.  However, it's the identical story we keep hearing again and again from data obtained all around the world, as documented in our Subject Index under the heading ENSO (Relationship to Extreme Weather).