Here come the hurricanes, more than previously forecast, say weather officials

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration experts have bumped up the number of storms strong enough to be given names expected for 2023 up to the 14 to 21 range, the agency announced Thursday.

Named storms are those with winds of 39 mph or more. The updated range includes five tropical storms in the Atlantic that have already occurred, including one that briefly became a hurricane. 

A baseline hurricane season, the NOAA noted, features 14 named storms, seven of which are hurricanes with winds of 74 mph or more and three of which are major hurricanes with winds of at least 111 mph. Hurricane season lasts from the beginning of June through the end of November.

The NOAA now gives a 60% chance the Atlantic and Caribbean get more hurricanes than the baseline, a 25% chance of a normal amount and a 15% chance of fewer hurricanes than usual.

The NOAA’s new Hurricane Analysis and Forecast System, which the agency said improves forecasting by 10%-15%, went online in June after earlier projections of 12-17 storms.