Hurricane Forecast Doesn't Look Good

70% chance that this year will be more active than average: NOAA
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted May 23, 2013 2:31 PM CDT
Hurricane Forecast Doesn't Look Good
Federal forecasters are predicting yet another busy hurricane season.   (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

Unwelcome news on the heels of the devastation in Oklahoma: This year's hurricane season could be busier than usual. That from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which today released its annual prediction for the season, which begins June 1 and lasts six months. Federal forecasters say there's a 70% chance that this year will be more active than average, due in part to warmer ocean temps, storm systems hailing from west Africa, and an absence of El Nino warming in the Pacific, reports the AP.

  • What a normal year typically looks like: 12 named storms, 6 hurricanes, and 3 major storms with winds over 110mph
  • The 2013 prediction: 3 to 20 named Atlantic storms, 7 to 11 that strengthen into hurricanes, and 3 to 6 that become major hurricanes
  • How last year clocked in: It was the 3rd-busiest on record with 19 named storms, 10 hurricanes, and two major storms, one of which was the infamous Sandy
Should a storm also find infamy this year, it'll have one of these names: Andrea, Barry, Chantal, Dorian, Erin, Fernand, Gabrielle, Humberto, Ingrid, Jerry, Karen, Lorenzo, Melissa, Nestor, Olga, Pablo, Rebekah, Sebastien, Tanya, Van, or Wendy. (More hurricane stories.)

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