US faces “well above-average” hurricane season
London, 10 April: The US is facing another busy hurricane season in 2008, according to researchers at Colorado State University, who have raised their forecast from their initial early December prediction.

The university’s department of atmospheric science predicted 15 named storms this year, higher than its December forecast of 13 and well above the long-term average of 9.6. The team predicted eight of the storms would form hurricanes and four would become major hurricanes – category three or higher – in 2008.

The probability that at least one major hurricane will land on the US coastline was 69%, compared with the average for the last century of 52%, said researchers Philip Klotzbach and William Gray.

Last year, 14 named storms and six hurricanes were observed in the Atlantic Basin. Three named storms made US landfall.

“We foresee an active Atlantic basin hurricane season. We continue to anticipate that cool El Niño-Southern Oscillation conditions will moderate somewhat by next summer, but a transition to El Niño seems unlikely,” the researchers said. The occurrence of El Niño – where sea surface temperatures in eastern Pacific Ocean are warmer than usual – tends to reduce hurricane activity.

The hurricane season runs from 1 June to 30 November.