Dear Tom,
What kind of hurricane season is expected next year?
Jeff Showers
Dear Jeff,
Seasonal hurricane forecasts issued by William Gray and Philip Klotzbach of Colorado State University receive great national attention, and they have recently released a preliminary outlook for the 2008 hurricane season.
Their Dec. 7 release states, “We foresee a somewhat above-average Atlantic basin tropical cyclone season in 2008. We anticipate an above-average probability of United States major hurricane landfall.” They expect seven hurricanes (versus a 1950-2000 average of 5.9) and three major (Category 3 or higher) hurricanes (versus an average of 2.3).
They peg the probability of a major hurricane U.S. landfall at 60% (versus 52% average).
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Tom Skilling is chief meteorologist at WGN-TV. His forecasts can be seen Monday through Friday on WGN-TV News at noon and 9 p.m.
WGN-TV meteorologists Steve Kahn, Richard Koeneman and Paul Dailey plus weather producer Bill Snyder contribute to this page.
