Hurricane chances increase: Brad Panovich explains NOAA tropical update

Record hot ocean temperatures and a tardy El Nino are doubling the chances of a nasty Atlantic hurricane season this summer and fall, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Thursday. With the Atlantic hurricane season already well above normal so far, NOAA increased how many storms to expect and how busy the season can get. The agency says there's a 60% chance for an above normal hurricane season, twice the agency's May forecast which said it was 30%. The earlier forecast leaned more toward a near normal season with a 40%, but the chance for normal has now shrunk to 25%. Although the NOAA outlook doesn’t forecast storm tracks or what places will get hit, a busy season like the one forecast means “there is a doubling of the chance of a hurricane making landfall on the East Coast of the U.S.,” said Matthew Rosencrans, lead hurricane season forecaster with NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center. NOAA is now forecasting between 14 to 21 named storms, which is an increase over forecasters' initial May forecast of 12 to 17. A normal year has 14 named storms. https://www.wcnc.com/article/news/nat...