KEY WEST, Fla. – A group of Key West residents burned hurricane warning flags Wednesday to mark the official Nov. 30 end of the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season.
The 2022 season spawned 14 named storms, an average season, according to the National Hurricane Center. Eight were hurricanes including late September’s Ian, which brought tropical storm-force winds and some storm surge to parts of the Keys before making landfall on southwest Florida’s mainland as one of two major hurricanes during the Atlantic season.
Wednesday’s event featured a blast blown on a conch shell, a symbol of the Keys, and speakers who remembered those affected by the 2022 hurricanes and expressed gratitude the Keys were spared major impacts.
Members of the Keys’ ceremonial Conch Republic administration then doused the hurricane flags with rum and set them on fire.
The event was staged beside the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Ingham, a maritime museum docked at Key West’s Truman Waterfront. It attracted several hundred spectators who applauded as the flags burned to ash.
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