Many people have asked me why NASA launches from Cape Canaveral when Florida has so many hurricanes. Fair question. I decided to look into it and came up with some interesting answers.
First off yes, Florida does have hurricanes, however, because of the way that the Gulf Stream flows, usually hurricanes don't make a direct hit on Brevard county where Cape Canaveral is located. As you can see from the illustration to the right, the Gulf Stream generally rounds the tip of south Florida in the Miami area and then heads out into the ocean and up the eastern sea board where it often is felt in the Carolinas.
Next, Cape Canaveral is on the Atlantic coast of Florida. Therefore, if there is any type of problem after liftoff such as what was experienced with the Challenger Shuttle disaster, then the debris from such explosions would fall into the ocean and avoid populated areas. Originally rockets where launch in New Mexico, but there were too many areas that could be impacted by falling debris.
Due to the fact the Earth rotates from west to east, and Cape Canaveral is located closer to the equator, NASA takes 
advantage of the Earth's natural rotation and gravitational pull and launches eastward (over the ocean). The best gravitation pull would be at the equator which rotates at roughly 1,040 miles per hour. The speed of rotation at Cape Canaveral is approximately 914 miles per hour. Still close enough to take advantage of the pull and yet take the other factors into consideration.
It is because of these types of factors that companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin and others are bringing additional business to the Space Coast.
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