Updated seasonal hurricane outlooks

The updated seasonal hurricane outlook issued by Klotzbach/Gray in August was somewhat overlooked due to the attention on Tropical Storm Emily near the time the forecast was issued. The outlook continued to call for above average activity.

Drs. Klotzbach and Gray continued to forecast 16 named storms, 9 hurricanes and 5 major hurricanes.

Those numbers were well above the long-term averages of 11, 6 and 2.

The seventeen named storms so far in 2011 have indeed been well above average for the number of named storms.  The six hurricanes and three major hurricanes are below their forecast.  There is still one month to go before the official end of the season, but it will be hard to reach the number of hurricanes and major hurricanes.