Forecasters: 2009 to bring 'above average' hurricane season

CNN: Next year is predicted to bring 14 named storms to the Atlantic Ocean, with seven of them becoming hurricanes, according to a university report that forecasts an "above average" 2009 hurricane season. The annual report was released Wednesday by Colorado State University forecasters Philip Klotzback and William Gray -- six months before the Atlantic hurricane season starts.

…The CSU report predicted that three of the season's seven hurricanes will develop into intense or major storms, meaning Category 3 or higher on the Saffir-Simpson scale. Category 3 storms have sustained winds of at least 111 mph. There is a 63 percent chance that at least one major hurricane will make landfall on the United States, according to the report.

The authors of the report stress that it is preliminary and will be revised several times as the hurricane season approaches. "The media and general public should realize that there is a large amount of uncertainty with our early December prediction, issued seven months prior to the start of the hurricane season," Klotzbach said….

A Houston, Texas, house boarded up in preparation for Hurricane Ike, shot by Sirtrentalot, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, icensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License