The updated forecast was issued nearly two weeks after the Atlantic hurricane season began on June 1 and mirrors the university’s first forecast of the year issued in April. Reports from Colorado State University state that a more active normal season is still expected.
Colorado State University (CSU) said Wednesday that above-average sea-surface temperatures in the subtropical eastern Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea were a primary factor in their prediction of nine total hurricanes this year.
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Warning for Americans issued
This year’s Atlantic hurricane season started on June 1. So far, no tropical storms or hurricanes have formed in the Atlantic basin. The forecast of the first Atlantic hurricane was issued in spring this year. During that time, the forecasters were predicting 17 named storms, with nine strengthening into hurricanes and four becoming major hurricanes. The forecast falls within the ranges shared by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) forecast in May.
The updated forecast from CSU revealed there is a 51 percent chance that at least one major hurricane will make landfall along the U.S. coastline this season. The chances drop to 26 percent for the East Coast, including the Florida peninsula, and 33 percent for the Gulf Coast, including the Florida panhandle. “The probability of U.S. and Caribbean major hurricane landfall is estimated to be above its long-period average,” the forecast said.”A warmer-than-normal Atlantic combined with ENSO neutral conditions typically favors an active Atlantic hurricane season via dynamic and thermodynamic conditions that are conducive for developing hurricanes,” the forecast said.ALSO READ: Air India plane crash: What is Mayday call that pilot issued before fatal tragedy in Ahmedabad
The Eastern Pacific season, which began on May 15, has produced three named storms, including one hurricane. “Coastal residents are reminded that it only takes one hurricane making landfall to make it an active season for them. Thorough preparations should be made for every season, regardless of how much activity is predicted,” the CSU said.
National Hurricane Center (NHC) in a forecast for the Atlantic: “For the North Atlantic…Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of America: Tropical cyclone formation is not expected during the next 7 days.”
Trump announces plans to ‘wean off’ FEMA
President Trump has given the clearest indication yet that his administration is ready to shut down the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and shift its operations to US states after the 2025 hurricane season sputters out.
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“We want to wean off of FEMA, and we want to bring it down to the state level,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office Tuesday, months after he signed an executive order for a “full-scale review” of the agency.
“A governor should be able to handle it, and frankly, if they can’t handle it, the aftermath, then maybe they shouldn’t be governor.” The order also called out FEMA’s “political bias” after a supervisor was dinged by a federal watchdog for engaging in illegal partisan activities by telling her disaster relief team responding to Hurricane Milton in Florida in October 2024 to “avoid homes advertising Trump.”