NC State predicts normal 2023 Atlantic hurricane season

North Carolina State University researchers on Thursday released their outlook for the 2023 Atlantic Hurricane season.

Researchers are calling for between 11 and 15 named storms in the Atlantic basin, which includes the entire Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea.

N.C. State researchers predict between six and eight of those storms will grow strong enough to become hurricanes. The historical average is six.

Two or three could become major hurricanes, researchers said.

According to WRAL meteorologist Aimee Wilmoth, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on Thursday issued an El Nino watch.

“We have a 62% chance of an El Nino developing May through July,” Wilmoth explained. “Historically, the Atlantic hurricane season sees few tropical systems during an El Nino year. That’s one of the reasons why N.C. State did not forecast an above-normal season.”

The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 through Nov. 30.