Most of NASA's major infrastructure equipment is designed to weather even major storms. In the age of the Saturn 5, nobody stayed up nights worrying about hail hitting the metal hull of the Saturn (watch those launch films as hundreds of pounds of ice rain off the side of the rocket and bounce off the lower sections). In the age of styrofoam spaceships, it's more of a concern.

Maybe someday fully-reusable launchers will no longer have to hug a coast, but it's going to be a while.

Nick's post is humorous, but has a good point. The only ideal coastal launch sites are on the equator, which is hurricane-free.