An updated forecast for the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season has been released by Dr. William Gray and Dr. Philip Klotzbach of Colorado State University.

The forecast calls for a season that will have above average activity.

Gray and Klotzbach are forecasting 15 named storms, eight of which will become hurricanes. They predict that four of those hurricanes will be major hurricanes, meaning the storms would reach category 3 strength or greater. The latest forecast, issued April 9, calls for more activity than their initial 2008 forecast, issued last December.

The forecast also suggests there is an above average chance of a major hurricane striking the U.S. coastline. During the last century, there was an average 52 percent probability for a major hurricane landfall anywhere in the U.S. In 2008, the forecast calls for a 69 percent chance.

During the period of 1950 to 2000, the Atlantic basin averaged 9.6 storms per year.

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