Get ready for an active Atlantic hurricane season. Blame it on the lack of El Niño. Forecasters with the Tropical Meteorology Project at Colorado State University say their predictions for this year’s hurricane season are based on the El Niño climate pattern, which will cause conditions more conducive to a very active season for tropical storms in the Atlantic, Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. They predict 17 tropical storms, nine of them hurricanes and five of those major Category 3, 4 or 5 storms. The team, led by William Gray and Phil Klotzbach, also forecasts a 74 percent chance that at least one major hurricane will make landfall somewhere on the U.S. coast. The hurricane season begins June 1.

Tropical Storm Forecast is Fierce – Again (USA Today 4/3/07)

April 11, 2007