The 2006 Atlantic hurricane season will be very active, with up to 10 hurricanes, although not as busy as record-breaking 2005, when Hurricane Katrina and other monster storms hit the United States, the US government's top climate agency said this evening.
The season is expected to produce 13 to 16 named storms, with eight to 10 becoming hurricanes, of which four to six could become "major" hurricanes of Category 3 strength or higher, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in its annual forecast.
The most damage is caused by storms that reach Category 3, with winds of 111-130 mph (178-209 kph), or higher on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane activity.
US National Hurricane Center director Max Mayfield said people in hurricane zones should not focus on the numbers.
"It just takes that one hurricane over your house to make for a bad year," Mayfield said at a news conference at the hurricane center.
Scientists were way off the mark in their forecasts of last year's hurricane season, which caused more than $100 billion in damage in the US. The official season runs from June 1st to November 30th.
The 2005 season spawned an unprecedented 28 tropical storms, of which 15 became hurricanes. NOAA had predicted 12 to 15 tropical storms, of which it said seven to nine would be hurricanes. Seven of last year's hurricanes were considered "major," while NOAA had predicted only three to five would reach that level.