Figure 3: Annual number of intense hurricanes over the Atlantic basin for the period of reliable record from 1944 to 1996. The data for the years 1944-1969 have been revised downward to take into account the overestimation of intensities during these years. See Landsea (1993) for details. The long term (1950-90) average of 2.2 per year (solid line) as well as a five year running mean (light curve) are superimposed on the time series.