US hurricane season 'will be tougher than average'

The United States is set for a tougher than average Atlantic hurricane season but it will not be as bad as last year, forecasters said today.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Hurricane Centre predicted up to 16 named storms, four of which will be classified as “major“.

But the season will be less busy than 2005 when a record 28 named storms included the devastating Hurricane Katrina which wrecked New Orleans.

Officials had last year only predicted 12 to 15 tropical storms, seven to nine of them becoming hurricanes, and three to five of those hurricanes being major - with winds of at least 111 mph.

But they ended up with 15 hurricanes, seven of which were Category 3 or higher.

This year’s detailed predictions suggest that water in the Atlantic is not as warm as it was at this stage in 2005. Warm water is a key fuel for hurricane development.

Meteorologists said it was not clear whether atmospheric conditions that helped produce last year’s storms would be the same again.

Also, the Pacific Ocean water conditions known as El Nino and La Nina will not have any impact, they believe.

The director the centre, Max Mayfield, said people in coastal regions should prepare for the possibility of major storms.

“One hurricane hitting where you live is enough to make it a bad season,” he said.

The Atlantic hurricane season runs from the beginning of June to the end of November.