Hurricane Season Ends — Finally

(CBS/AP)  The victims of the busiest and costliest Atlantic hurricane season on record may be comforted now that it's finally ending Wednesday: No hurricane has been known to hit the United States between December and May.

But despite the end of the June 1-to-Nov. 30 season, tens of thousands of Americans are still dealing with the devastation from Hurricanes Wilma, Rita and Katrina, the nation's worst natural disaster in modern times.

And hurricanes still could form over the next few months. In fact, a tropical storm - Epsilon - took shape in the Atlantic on Tuesday.

Gulf Breeze, Fla., residents Tuesday night noted the end of the hurricane season with fireworks, bands, carnivals, and plenty of barbequing.

"It's just a night to come together and say we don't have to worry anymore for now and have fun," resident Nancy Millay told CBS affiliate WKRG.

Some also celebrated in Pensacola, Fla., but not everyone, reports CBS News correspondent Peter King (audio).

And there was partying in New Orleans, but not much, reports Dave Cohen of CBS radio affiliate WWL (audio), as officials get ready for the start of another hurricane season in just six months.

Thousands remain homeless along the Gulf Coast, where Katrina hit three months ago. The storm plunged New Orleans into the kind of chaos usually seen in developing countries, exposing the gap between rich and poor, and raising serious doubts about the country's readiness for another catastrophe, caused by man or nature.

Forecasters say 2006 could be another brutal year because the Atlantic is in a period of frenzied hurricane activity that began in 1995 and could last at least another decade.

"You bet I'm worried about next year and several years after that," National Hurricane Center director Max Mayfield told CBS News.

The government's weather watchers are brushing aside fears of global warming — and blaming a naturally-occurring period — that is combining warm ocean waters with storm-friendly wind conditions, reports

CBS News correspondent Jim Acosta (video)

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"It probably has been the most devastating hurricane season that the country has experienced in modern times," National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration chief Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr., said. "I would like to be able to stand up here and tell you next year will not be any more severe than this year. But I can't do that."

Experts say the increase is due to a natural cycle of higher sea temperatures, lower wind shear and other factors, though some scientists blame global warming.

The 2005 season obliterated many long-standing records:

• In 154 years of record-keeping, this year had the most named storms (26, including Tropical Storm Epsilon, which formed Tuesday), the most hurricanes (13), the highest number of major hurricanes hitting the U.S. (4), and the most top-scale Category 5 hurricanes (3).
  
  
• Katrina was the deadliest U.S. hurricane since 1928 (more than 1,300 dead) and replaced 1992's Andrew as the most expensive one on record ($34.4 billion in insured losses).
  
  
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