It's hard to believe, but hurricane season is not that far away. It officially begins on June 1st. And the some places have already released their forecast for the upcoming season.

Dr. Bill Gray and Phil Klotzbach of Colorado State University (CSU) have updated their initial forecast from December. The latest forecast calls for:
15 Named Storms
8 Hurricanes
4 Intense Hurricanes (Category 3 or greater)

Compared to their December forecast, they have increased from the number of named storms, hurricanes and intense hurricanes. This most recent forecast also calls for an above average chance of a major hurricane hitting the east coast (45 percent), while the average is 31 percent.

Tropical Storm Risk Inc. (a British private forecasting firm)
Their latest forecast calls for:
14.8 Named Storms
7.8 Hurricanes
3.5 Intense Hurricanes (Category 3 or greater)

When compared to their December forecast, they have slightly lowered most of the numbers.

Now, let's compare this to average.

An Average Year Numbers:
10.3 Named Storms
6.2 Hurricanes
2.7 Intense Hurricanes (Category 3 or greater)

The Climate Prediction Center will be releasing their numbers in the coming weeks. It will be interesting to see how their numbers compare to everyone else's. But only time will tell what kind of hurricane season we'll really have this year.