On Thursday, the US weather forecasts predicted that the Atlantic Ocean may suffer from 11 to 17 major storms this year and about nine hurricanes in a-more-active-than-usual hurricane season.
The absence of El Niño, a climatic phenomenon that warms the waters and tends to reduce the probability of hurricanes, is the main factor behind the increase in storms expected this year.
An average season produces 12 named storms, six of which become hurricanes.
This forecast reflects our expectation that El Niño will be weak or nonexistent,”
said Gerry Bell, a meteorologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Climate Prediction Center.
The Atlantic hurricane season starts on June 1st and ends on November 30th.
Forecasters predict a 70 percent chance of having 11 to 17 named storms,”
said NOAA said in a statement, referring to storms reaching winds of at least 63 km per hour.
Between five and nine of those storms could turn into hurricanes, with winds of 119 km/h or greater.
Of these, two to four can be “important”, that is to say category 3 to 5 and with winds of more than 179 km/h.
There was already an unusual out-of-season storm, Arlene, which formed in April in the eastern Atlantic.