Time for the annual "Very Active Hurricane Season" forecast

Stop me if you've heard this one before.

Government forecasters called for a busier than normal hurricane season Tuesday.

National Weather Service forecasters said they expect 13 to 17 tropical storms, with seven to 10 of them becoming hurricanes.

The forecast follows that of two other leading storm experts in anticipating a busy season.

The likelihood of above normal hurricane activity is 75 percent, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.

"With expectations for an active season, it is critically important that people who live in East and Gulf coastal areas as well as the Caribbean be prepared," said Bill Proenza, director of the national hurricane center in Miami.

As SciGuy says, the hurricane prediction season is lasting as long as the actual hurricane season itself. Given that the first predictions for this year were made last December, that's more truth than jest. Note that in the table SciGuy put together, we have this apparent outlier, which suggests we'll have a fairly quiet year. What do you think? Place your bets and we'll see at the start of the Hurricane Prediction Season for 2008.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on May 23, 2007 to Hurricane Katrina