National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) scientists have upgraded their prediction for the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season from near-normal to above-average activity.
On Thursday, NOAA announced the upgrade, citing unusually warm sea surface temperatures that would likely counterbalance the usually limiting effects of the ongoing El Nino event.
Forecasters upped the likelihood of an above-normal season to sixty percent.
The outlook in May this year predicted thirty percent.
The latest upgrade calls for fourteen to twenty-one named storms packing winds of thirty-nine miles per hour or more.
According to NOAA, six to eleven predicted storms could become hurricanes with winds of seventy-four miles per hour or more.
It also said two to five could become major hurricanes.
The 2023 Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30 annually.
The season peak usually occurs in September.
Oh dear! This is concerning but hey….no one reads this type of important news based on the number of comments.
lol … surprise!! From a “closet meteorologist”. This news is important to me.