Research Team Releases 2011 Hurricane Forecast

In an early extended-range forecast for 2011, the Colorado State University Hurricane Team is calling for an above average hurricane season. The report is led in part by Philip Klotzbach who says there is a lot of uncertainty in the forecast since it's put out 6 months prior to the hurricane season. Klotzbach says one of the primary factors and a big concern every year is whether or not we'll have an El Nino. He says in 2009 El Nino conditions caused the season to be quiet and and in 2010 we had La Nina conditions. (The team expects 17 named storms including 9 hurricanes and  5 major hurricanes.) Klotzbach says the US was extremely lucky in 2010 in that none of the 12 Atlantic basin hurricanes that formed crossed the US coastline. He says on average one in four hurricanes makes landfall.