Guess Which Metro Area Is Most Overdue for a Hurricane?

Weather Channel meteorlogists just released their annual Top 10 list of metro areas most overdue and vulnerable to the impact from a hurricane.

The Tampa Bay region tops the list at No. 1.

Second and third place go to two other Florida cities: Naples and Jacksonville, respectively. To see the full Top 10 list, read the Weather Channel story.

(For the latest on the Tampa Bay weather forecast, see Low-Pressure Zone Tracking Toward Florida.)

Meteorologists noted that the last time the Tampa metro region was hit by a hurricane was in 1921. That storm caused millions of dollars in damage.

The population has swelled since then, and the evacuation time if a Cat 5 storm hit would be 68 hours, according to the Weather Channel, which described the Tampa metro region extending as far south as Sarasota and including all of Pinellas as well as Hillsborough counties.

Meteorologists looked at:

• Statistics from all major cities on or near the coast;
• Storm surge;
• Evacuation time;
• Population;
• Number of years since an area or city had been hit by a bad storm. 

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