It would be erroneous to evaluate the issue of global warming solely on the basis of hurricane frequency. Hurricanes are primarily meteorological phenomena, and their occurrence and existence is determined by a multitude of factors. The primary factor that is related to global warming is sea surface temperature, but this is also influenced by other factors, especially oceanic circulation in both the Pacific and Atlantic basins.
Hurricanes attract a lot of attention, but evaluating global warming based on one or two hurricane seasons won't be very indicative. When looking at a variable that is meteorologically determined, you have to evaluate long-term trends by taking a long-term view.
Isn't the primary suppressing factor this year be the weak El Nino? The climate models must not yet model the triggering mechanisms for El Nino or they would have predicted them. My second point is that the distribution of water vapor particularly in the upper troposphere is the major projected global warming feedback. Modeling of tropical convection including tropical storms will be essential to determining the extent of warming above the 1C warming anticipated from man-made CO2.