Colorado State University on Wednesday updated its forecast for the 2020 Atlantic Hurricane Season.
They are now predicting that we will see 24 named storms, 12 hurricanes and 5 major hurricanes this year.
For that reason, CSU expects the Greek alphabet to be used later in the season, if or when the regular name list is completely exhausted.
The only other time the Greek alphabet was used was during the historic 2005 season, which had a a record 28 named storms.
One reason for increase in CSU Atlantic #hurricane season forecast is extremely warm tropical Atlantic sea surface temps. Currently 4th warmest on record (since 1982), trailing 2005, 2010 & 2017. Warmer water means more fuel for storms, also typically more atmospheric instability pic.twitter.com/X2S0HDlaBX
— Philip Klotzbach (@philklotzbach) August 5, 2020
In addition, the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration plans to release their updated forecast for the 2020 Hurricane Season on Thursday.
Currently, the NOAA is also calling for an above average season with 13 to 19 named storms, 6 to 10 hurricanes and 3 to 6 major hurricanes, that is category 3 or greater.
This season has seen nine named Atlantic storms thus far. They are: Arthur, Bertha, Cristobal, Dolly, Edouard, Fay, Gonzalo, Hanna, and Isaias.
The unusually amount by this time of the season is two named storms. In addition, five of the storms have made landfall in the United States.
Researchers cite warmer than normal sea surface temperatures across the tropical Atlantic, as well as vertical wind shear that is well below average, as the reasons for the above-average probability in predicted storms.