Updated Atlantic Hurricane Forecast Indicates Below-Average Activity
Colorado State University hurricane expert William Gray downgraded his forecast for the 2006 Atlantic storm season again this week, predicting one more hurricane, two more named storms but no intense hurricanes.
The new report calls for a below-average hurricane season, with a total of six hurricanes and 11 named storms.
Gray and fellow Colorado State University researcher Philip Klotzbach cited El Nino conditions for the reduced number of storms.
Their forecast said: “We have experienced average hurricane activity through September. August was inactive, but September had above-average activity. We expect October to have below-average activity largely due to developing El Niño conditions in the central and eastern Pacific. November activity in El Niño years is very rare.”
The long-term average for the June-through-November Atlantic hurricane season is 9.6 named storms, 5.9 hurricanes and 2.3 intense hurricanes, the forecasters said.
So far this season, the Atlantic basin has seen nine named storms and five hurricanes, the latest of them Issac, which broke up off Canada on Monday.
“Despite the lower predictions, residents living along the U.S. coastline should always be prepared for major storms,” Gray said.
In the past two years alone, the researchers said, 13 major hurricanes formed in the Atlantic basin, and seven struck the U.S. coast, including the devastating Hurricane Katrina. By contrast, between 1995 and 2003, only three major hurricanes hit land.
- Insurers Get Green Light to Pay Less Than Billed Charges in Florida PIP Cases
- Work Safety Group Releases List of ‘Dirty Dozen’ Employers
- Florida’s Home Insurance Industry May Be Worse Than Anyone Realizes
- Apollo Accused in Lawsuit of Illegal Human Life Wagering Scheme
- Report: Vehicle Complexity, Labor ‘Reshaping’ Auto Insurance and Collision Repair
- California Chiropractor Sentenced to 54 Years for $150M Workers’ Comp Scheme
- Property Restoration Industry: A Culture in Need of Repair?
- Millions of Recalled Hyundai and Kia Vehicles, With Dangerous Defect, Remain on Road