Saturday, August 6, 2011

Atlantic Hurricane Outlook Updated

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), in coordination with the National Hurricane Center has released an update to their Atlantic tropical outlook.

With a very warm summer, ocean temperatures have increased to the third warmest on record. This along with other factors signal that a more active season is likely.

NOAA is predicting an 85% chance of an above normal hurricane season. The Atlantic hurricane season begins June 1 and peaks around September 10th. A large portion of the season is remaining.

The updated outlook has increased the forecast ranges of each category by 1 storm versus the outlook released in May. These numbers include the storms that have occurred thus far: five named storms, none of which have become hurricanes.