The 2009 Hurricane season was near average in terms of the number of storms that developed, but there were some interesting side notes from the season.
The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to Nov 30. The first system to develop, tropical depression number 1, did so in late May. It's not unheard of for a tropical cyclone to develop before the official start of the season, but it doesn't happen often. June and July were quiet with the next four storms developing in August. Hurricane Bill was the strongest.
September saw TS Erika, Hurricane Fred and TD 8 develop. October brought TS Grace and TS Henri. In November, our last hurricane developed. Ida moved onshore early in the month with minimal force.
In an average year, there are 10 named storms with 6 being hurricanes. 2009 had 11 storms, 9 of them named with 3 of them being hurricanes. Very close to an average season, but not as active as was forecast at back in June.
There are two reasons why hurricanes had a hard time developing. A persistent east coast trough kept storms turning away from the US. Also a developing El Nino brought strong upper level winds into the Caribbean Sea and sheared most storms apart.