Hurricane season has battered Florida, but it's been more than kind to the Weather Channel, which posted its biggest ratings month ever in September.

The Atlanta-based cable channel's staffers know hurricanes are nothing to celebrate. But there's no question that five major storms in six weeks means a sunny payoff for them.

"This was a history-making event from a weather perspective, and for the Weather Channel it was a record-breaking ratings season," said general manager Terry Connelly.

The network posted a single-day record, reaching 1.9 million households the day before Hurricane Ivan made landfall. The next day, as Ivan roared ashore, the Weather Channel beat all other news channels, including CNN and Fox News Channel.

For the third quarter, July through September, the Weather Channel's ratings were 43 percent higher than in 2003.

September was the biggest month in the history of the network, Connelly said. But it was hard-earned. Just ask any meteorologist who worked 24 hours straight to forecast a storm's path, or a field crew who thought they would never see a dry sock again.

"I've been doing this a dozen years, but I've never lived through anything like this," said Jim Cantore, an on-air meteorologist who spent almost six weeks wind-whipped and soaked.

And once the storm rolls in, it's constant work until skies clear, even if it takes days.

Even after the eye of the storm passes, the hardships don't end. Cameras have to be fixed, sometimes replaced. Restaurants are closed, so crews eat soggy granola bars and sandwiches for days. And those fancy Gore-Tex coats they wear? Forget it. Crew members say nothing keeps you dry standing in a hurricane.

Back in Atlanta, the accommodations are better, but the work is just as taxing. No one gets a vacation during hurricane season, and this year many of the network's employees worked all-nighters, living off coffee and Krispy Kremes for days.

Steve Lyons, the Weather Channel's tropical weather expert, had one day off in four weeks. Sometimes he napped under his desk. Once he remembers looking at his watch in the windowless studio and having to ask whether the time was a.m. or p.m. Then he had to ask what day it was.