MIAMI, (Reuters):
UNITED STATES forecasters predicted Monday that up to 13 tropical storms and hurricanes would form in the Atlantic and Caribbean this year, another busy season on the heels of one that hammered Florida with four hurricanes and swamped U.S. oil production.
If the forecasters are right, the 2005 hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30, would continue a string of mostly above-average stormy seasons that began a decade ago, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said in its annual hurricane forecast.
"Since 1995, conditions in the tropics have been very favourable for active hurricane seasons. Eight out of those 10 years were above normal and we expect this to be nine out of 11," NOAA administrator Conrad Lautenbacher said at a news conference in Bay, St. Louis, Mississippi.
The Atlantic and Caribbean basin will see 12 to 15 tropical storms during the season, NOAA said.
From seven to nine of those storms will become hurricanes and three to five of the hurricanes will be major ones, with sustained winds exceeding 110 mph (177 kph), the agency said.
An average hurricane season has 9.6 tropical storms, of which 5.9 grow to hurricane strength of 74 mph (119 kph). Of those hurricanes, 2.3 become major hurricanes.
