Hurricane Season 2006 is still upon us and so far it has been quiet with not much to report on this season. This is good news to report after last years very active season and the devastation we witnessed with many of the storms including Katrina. This does not mean that we can let our guard down though as the Atlantic hurricane season, which ends on Nov. 30, typically peaks between Aug. 1 and late October.

Government forecasters have cut down on the earlier predicted number of hurricanes that would hit the United States. Originally forecasters were predicting that we would have 13 to 16 named storms, with eight to 10 of these becoming hurricanes, and of those storms four to six could become major hurricanes and that means a storm with winds of 111 miles per hour or higher. The new forecast has 9 named storms. This year the difference is La Nina has disappeared. The lack of La Nina has helped to cut down on the number of early season storms that develop in June and July.

An average hurricane season brings 9 named storms, 5 hurricanes and 2 major hurricanes that have winds in excess of 111 miles per hour.