The 2011 Atlantic hurricane season will be above average with nine hurricanes, five of them major, with a more than 70 percent chance that at least one of them will hit the U.S. coastline, Colorado State University forecasters predicted Wednesday as reported by the Insurance Journal.
Slightly reducing an early December forecast, the CSU team forecast an active June 1-Nov. 30 season, predicting 16 named storms.
Of these, nine were expected to turn into hurricanes, with five developing into major hurricanes of Category 3 or higher on the five-step Saffir/Simpson scale. The impact upon homeowner's insurance could be dramatic given less traumatic hurrican seasons in recent years.
The 2010 season spawned 19 named storms, tying for the third most active season with 1897 and 1995, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center. Of those storms, 12 became hurricanes, tying the second highest season of 1969. There were five major hurricanes in 2010, but there was little impact on the U.S. coastline compared to previous seasons.
The CSU team predicted a "72 percent chance that at least one major hurricane will make landfall on the U.S. coastline in 2011," adding that the long-term average probability of this was 52 percent.
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