NEW ORLEANS — Experts at Colorado State University released their annual hurricane season outlook Thursday and are calling for 23 named storms, 11 hurricanes and five major hurricanes in an extremely active season forecast.
This is well above the averages of 14 named storms, seven hurricanes and three major hurricanes.
The main reason forecasters are calling for an active season is due to record warm water temperatures in the Atlantic. This adds more fuel for storms to grow in size and intensity.
Another factor is El Nino is forecast to switch to La Nina by the peak of the season. This typically means wind shear will decrease as we enter the busiest part of the hurricane season. Wind shear acts to tear storms apart, so without it storms can grow in intensity. Hurricane Season officially arrives on June 1.
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