This is how many hurricanes reseachers expect in 2024 [Video]

Lian Xie, professor of marine, earth and atmospheric sciences at NC State, categorizes the forecast as “significantly higher than the longer-term average, and moderately higher than recent 30-year averages,” according to the announce from NC State.

Xie predicts 15-to-20 named storms in the Atlantic basin, which includes the entire Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. He predicts ten-to-12 of those storms to grow strong enough to become hurricanes, which must have winds of at least 74 mph to reach category 1 status. Of those, three-to-four of the storms could become a major hurricane, which is classified as a category 3 storm with winds of at least 111 mph.

The long-term average, which dates back to 1951, sees an average of 11 named storms. In the past …