Tired of Hugo stories?

I discovered last year, on the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Hugo's pounding of the Carolinas, that some people don't want to hear from those of us who lived through it. "We're tired of hearing about Hugo," I was told several times.

OK. I get it.

But on the 21st anniversary of the day when Hugo came through Charlotte as a Category 1 hurricane -- nearly 200 miles inland -- here's something that should be of interest to both Hugo veterans and those who were born or moved here after Sept. 22, 1989.

I'm betting Hugo was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

What happened was a complex series of events that isn't likely to happen again for a long, long time.

And what's happened this year in the Atlantic Ocean is an example.

In review ... Hugo was a Cape Verde storm. It developed off the coast of Africa, south of the Cape Verde islands. It retained its strength across the Atlantic and slammed into South Carolina without recurving (curving to the northwest and north). A low pressure system over the Gulf of Mexico and high pressure over New England created a sort of alleyway for Hugo to move -- at a high rate of speed -- inland across South Carolina and Charlotte.

This year has seen a series of powerful hurricanes form in the Cape Verde region. Meteorologists say it's been a busy season. Most people in the United States probably would scoff at that, since the hurricanes didn't hit the mainland.

That's because the storms curved northward. For most of the last two months, there have been two high pressure systems -- one over the central Atlantic, the other over the U.S. Southeast. Between them was a "weakness" area of low pressure.

Each of those Cape Verde hurricanes moved westward across the Atlantic but curved north when they reached that "weakness" area.

"What you're seeing this year is typical for Cape Verde storms," said Scott Krentz, a National Weather Service meteorologist in the Greer, S.C., office. He and other meteorologists say most of those hurricanes curve before hitting the U.S. They become what those of us who follow weather call "fish storms."

Occasionally, the Cape Verde hurricanes get close to the U.S. coast before curving -- a la Hurricane Earl. But having one of those powerful storms slam directly into the Carolinas coast at a 90-degree angle (or close to it) and retain its strength inland is a real rarity.

And my brother Michael, a Texas-based weather weenie who will be mentioned frequently by me, points out that a condition called a negative North Atlantic Oscillation has created a deep dip in the atmosphere over the Atlantic. That also curves storms northward.

Something to watch: Keep an eye on a system that the National Hurricane Center is watching over the southern Caribbean. On Wednesday morning, its center was a bit north of Aruba. Some computer models predict that system could become a strong hurricane next week in the Gulf of Mexico. Other models show the storm hitting Mexico or Central America.

As we learned from Hurricane Ike two years ago, Gulf hurricanes can mean big trouble here in the Carolinas, even if the wind and rain never get within 600 miles of us. A disruption in petroleum operations in the Gulf can translate into $5-a-gallon gas for us. We don't like Gulf hurricanes.