Measured in terms of loss of life and property, hurricanes rank near the top of natural hazards. And with increasing development of coastal areas in the United States, the societal impact of these storms is likely to increase. This book, an applied climatology of North Atlantic hurricanes, is intended to serve as an intermediary between hurricane climate research and the users of hurricane information. It discusses: the climatology of tropical cyclones in general and those of the North Atlantic in particular; major North Atlantic hurricanes, focusing on US landfalling storms; prediction models used in forecasting; and societal vulnerability to hurricanes, including ideas for modelling the relationship between climatological data and decision-making in the social and economic sciences.