The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Climate Prediction Center forecasts a range of 17 to 25 named storms, eight to 13 of these will become hurricanes (average is seven), including four to seven major hurricanes (average is three).

A major hurricane is a category three, four or five hurricane on the Saffir Simpson scale, with winds of 178 km/h or even more.

The Atlantic hurricane season (from June 1 to November 30) is carefully monitored by the Tropical Cyclone Program of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

It is now eight consecutive years of above-average activity and the last below-normal season was in 2015.

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