Less active hurricane season expected

GREENVILLE, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is predicting near normal hurricane activity in the Atlantic this year.

This Atlantic hurricane season is expected to be less active than in previous seasons due to the high potential of El Nino building in over the next few months. El Nino tends bring less activity to the tropics thanks to cooler water temperatures and more atmospheric stability. The last three years have been La Nina years which leads to more active hurricane seasons due to warmer water temperatures and less stability.

The forecast for this year is for 12 to 17 named storms, of these storms five to nine of them could become hurricanes. Out of those hurricanes, one to four could become major hurricanes which is a category 3, 4, or 5.

Tropical systems are named when wind speeds reach higher than 39 mph. At 74 mph, a storm is now considered a category one hurricane. A category 3 has wind speeds of at least 111mph.

Hurricane season begins June 1st and ends November 30th.

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