The upcoming hurricane season is shaping up to be much busier than last year.

Forecasters with Tropical Storm Risk in London estimated 17 tropical storms will form, with nine reaching hurricane force and four of those becoming major hurricanes with winds topping 111 mph.

As many as five storms, including two hurricanes, may make landfall in the United States, according to the forecast.

The June-to-November season is forecast to be far more active than last year, when only one tropical storm came ashore in the United States.

Warm water in the Atlantic basin will provide heat and moisture to power the storms, while changes in trade wind patterns, thanks to dissipating El Nino and strengthening La Nina conditions, will cause cyclones to form at the center of the storms, said Mark Saunders, lead scientist for Tropical Storm Risk. "The El Nino conditions present since September 2006 dissipated rapidly during February," Saunders said.

 "The sudden El Nino dissipation is the main reason for the TSR forecast for hurricane activity in 2007 rising."

http://www.sptimes.com/2007/03/22/State/Dateline_Florida.shtml