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Slow hurricane season forecast for 2012

By Scott Dance
Baltimore Sun
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Elise Feldman stands by her son Josh Feldman, 11 of Leonardtown, Md., cautiously watching their footing as the pier breaks up from the force of the waves pounding the boards loose as Hurricane Isabel slams into the eastern seaboard.

Elise Feldman stands by her son Josh Feldman, 11 of Leonardtown, Md., cautiously watching their footing as the pier breaks up from the force of the waves pounding the boards loose as Hurricane Isabel slams into the eastern seaboard. (Karl Merton Ferron, Baltimore Sun)

Hurricane forecasters at Colorado State University are calling for a below-average hurricane season this year, with 10 expected named storms and about a one in four chance a major hurricane will hit the East Coast.

The Tropical Meteorology Project released its main forecast for the year Wednesday, in advance of the June 1 start to the Atlantic hurricane season. In a typical year, the East Coast stands a 31 percent chance of being struck by a major hurricane. The median number of named storms over the past century is 12.

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The project's meteorologists wrote that unusually cool waters in the Atlantic and the potential for a developing El Nino global weather pattern contributed to the forecast.

If the predictions come to pass, it would be a calm season compared with the 2011 season. There were 19 named storms and four major hurricanes last year, while the meteorologists had predicted 16 named storms and five major hurricanes in April 2011.

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Look out for a post or story on more hurricane forecasts from NOAA and AccuWeather coming soon.

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