NOAA Now Expecting As Many As 25 Named Tropical Storms & Hurricanes This Season
Following a record number of Atlantic Ocean storms over the past two months, including five that struck the United States, government scientists on Thursday updated their forecast for the remainder of the hurricane season, saying it was likely to be extremely active. “It’s shaping up to be one of the most active seasons on record,” said Louis Uccellini, director of the National Weather Service.
Gerry Bell, the lead hurricane season forecaster with the climate prediction center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said there could be 19 to 25 named storms, those with sustained winds above 38 miles an hour, or 61 kilometers an hour, by the time the season ends on Nov. 30. Of these, seven to 11 could be hurricanes, with winds of 74 m.p.h. or higher, including three to six major ones.
“We’ve never forecast up to 25 named storms before,” Dr. Bell said. But he said that it was unlikely the season would be as active as 2005, when there were 28 named storms and the Weather Service had to resort to using the Greek alphabet for the last few.
And the forecast for major hurricanes, those with winds exceeding 110 m.p.h., was unchanged from the scientists’ preseason predictions, issued in May.
EDIT
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/06/climate/hurricanes-noaa-prediction.html
