On Thursday some meteorologists (who are by nature a cheesy lot) had an opportunity to channel their inner Dixie Chick and sing "Goodbye Earl" as yet another hurricane went into the Yucatan Peninsula to die. Most of the rest of the United States yawned—another hurricane in the Atlantic, and no harm done.

But the hurricane was remarkable precisely because of this. Earl, which attained a maximum wind speed of 80 mph before striking Belize, marked another in a long line of hurricanes that have formed in the Atlantic basin—the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, and Gulf of Mexico—but have not affected the United States.

Consider some of the following statistics: the last hurricane to reach the Gulf of Mexico was Ingrid in September, 2013. The current, nearly three-year-long drought for the Gulf has not been equaled since at least 1851. The drought in hurricanes that make Florida landfalls is even more pronounced. The Sunshine State, which juts into the Atlantic Ocean like a lightning rod for tropical weather, has not been hit by a hurricane since Wilma (2005). Earl was in fact the 67th Atlantic hurricane in a row to not make landfall in Florida, according to hurricane scientist Phil Klotzbach. The previous record was a mere 33 hurricanes, a streak between Hurricanes David (1979) and Elena (1985).

For major hurricanes, storms with 111 mph winds or stronger, a drought exists as well. According to data from another hurricane scientist, Brian McNoldy, a major Atlantic hurricane hasn't hit the United States in 3,938 days, again since Wilma hit Florida in 2005. That streak is longer than any other in the long Atlantic record, greater even than the 3,315-day drought from 1860 to 1869. Since Wilma, a remarkable 27 major hurricanes have developed in the Atlantic basin, but all have avoided the United States. Klotzbach said the odds of none of those striking the United States is 1-in-2,300.

It's not clear why this drought has occurred, as Atlantic hurricane activity has remained more or less near or above normal levels during the last decade. One recent peer-reviewed paper put it down to chance. On one hand this is great—fewer bigger storms mean less widespread coastal devastation.

But as the Capital Weather Gang warned this week, it also has the potential to lull coastal residents into a false sense of security. "It’s only a matter of time before the luck reverses and storms start bombarding the U.S. coast again," the influential weather site concluded. "Growing coastal populations and lack of recent hurricane activity, from Florida to Texas, raise concerns about the nation’s readiness."