Another Average 2009 Hurricane Forecast
For the second time this week a prominent forecast team is forecasting a near-average hurricane season. Researchers at North Carolina State University say that 2009 will be a near-normal hurricane season.
The team, led by Dr. Lian Xie, is calling for 11 to 14 named storms forming in the Atlantic basin. Six to eight of those named storms could grow into hurricanes. NCSU forecasters also say there is a 45 percent chance that one of those storms will make landfall along the coast of the southeastern United States as a hurricane.
Earlier in the week Dr. William Gray and his team at Colorado State University also called for a closer to normal hurricane season. Gray and his team called for 14 named storms, 7 hurricanes and 3 intense hurricanes (category 3 or higher). These forecast numbers are closer to the average yearly numbers of 12 named storms, 6 hurricanes and 2 intense hurricanes.
AccuWeather forecaster Joe Bastardi issued his seasonal hurricane forecast in March. He called for 13 named storms, 8 hurricanes and 2 major hurricanes. One of the more interesting stats from Bastardi is that his calls fro three hurricanes to either strike or brush the U.S. coast this year…and he thinks the Eastern Seaboard will be the primary target.
Four out of the last five hurricane seasons have been considered above normal. Remember, whether we have one hurricane this year or twenty…it only takes one strike to change lives. In 2008, we ended up with 16 named storms, 8 hurricanes, 5 major hurricanes and six landfalls in the United States. Be prepared, the hurricane season starts June 1.
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