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2006 Hurricane Season forecast

The National Hurricane Center has just released its forecast for the 2006 Atlantic Hurricane Season, and they think it's going to be a busy one. They're anticipating 13 to 16 named storms, with 8 to 10 becoming hurricanes, and 4 to 6 of those reaching Category 3 strength or higher.

That's all well above the average of 11 named storms, including 6 hurricanes and 2 major (Cat. 3 or higher).  On the other hand, it would be a relief after the record-shattering 2005 season, which produced an astonishing 28 named storms, with 15 reaching hurricane force, and 7 spinning up to Category 3 or more.

Interestingly, the new forecast is also higher (by 1 across the board) than the NHC forecasts for the 2005 season, released at this time last year.

Here's full report.

The NHC predictions are generally in line with those issued last month by the Colorado State University hurricane expert William Gray and his team. They forecast 17 named storms, 9 hurricanes, 5 of them "major."

The 2006 Atlantic hurricane season opens officially June 1, and extends through November. Here's just about everything you need to know about the upcoming season.

Posted by Frank Roylance on May 22, 2006 11:33 AM |
                    

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About Frank Roylance
Frank Roylance is a reporter for The Baltimore Sun. He came to Baltimore from New Bedford, Mass. in 1980 to join the old Evening Sun. He moved to the morning Sun when the papers merged in 1992, and has spent most of his time since covering science, including astronomy and the weather. One of The Baltimore Sun's first online Web logs, the Weather Blog debuted in October 2004. In June 2006 Frank also began writing comments on local weather and stargazing for The Baltimore Sun's print Weather Page.
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