By Rita LeBleu

The hurricane season starts June 1. It could be really busy. Colorado State University hurricane forecaster Phil Klotzbach predicts 23 storms, 11 hurricanes and five major hurricanes, according to a report in Houma Today.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. NOAA issues its predictions for the season in May each year.

Roger Erickson, meteorologist in charge at the Lake Charles National Weather Service office said he did not know how Klotzbach made his forecast or how it compares to how NOAA makes its predictions,, but it “sounded like a reasonable forecast.”

A typical year averages about 14 tropical storms, and seven spinning into hurricanes, based on weather records from 1991 to 2020, according to the Business Report’s story on the forecast. Last year there were 20 named storms. That’s six more than the average and the fourth-most named storms on record.

According to the CSU website, Klotzbach is a Research Scientist with a Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science. Klotzbach developed the two-week forecasts currently being issued during the peak months of the hurricane season between August-October. He has authored over 50 articles in peer-reviewed journals such as Journal of Climate and Weather and Forecasting.