Active hurricane season predicted

FORT COLLINS, Colo., June 4 (UPI) -- U.S. hurricane forecasters say the Atlantic basin will likely see an active hurricane season this year, with 15 named storms expected to form.

Colorado State University said eight storms could become hurricanes. Four of the storms could have sustained winds of 111 mph or more, the university said Tuesday in a news release.

"Conditions in the tropical Atlantic look quite favorable for an active hurricane season. Sea surface temperatures are anomalously warm, while sea level pressures and levels of vertical wind shear are quite low," lead author Phil Klotzbach of the CSU hurricane forecast team said in a statement. "Our primary concern is the warming waters in the equatorial Pacific. At this point, we do not believe that an El Nino will develop by late this summer; however, this is a possibility that must be monitored closely."

The report said there is a 69 percent chance that at least one major hurricane will make landfall on the U.S. coastline in 2008. The past two years had average or slightly below-average hurricane activity, with only one Category 1 hurricane making landfall on U.S. soil in 2007.