iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- The Atlantic hurricane season, which begins next month, is forecast to be near or below average this year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced on Thursday."NOAA predicts the Atlantic hurricane season in 2014 will have a range of eight to thirteen tropical storms, three to six of which will become hurricanes, and one to two of those may grow in strength and become Category 3 or higher major storms," NOAA Administrator Dr. Kathryn Sullivan said.One reason for the near- to below-normal season is the possibility that El Niño conditions will develop in the Atlantic, which makes hurricanes less likely."One way that El Niño suppresses Atlantic hurricane activity is by increasing the amount of wind shear, which inhibits cyclonic development growth and so reduces the number and the intensity of storms," Sullivan explained.The Atlantic hurricane season kicks off on June 1 and runs through Nov. 30. Follow @ABCNewsRadio !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");Copyright 2014 ABC News Radio
States of emergency abound on the Atlantic Coast as Sandy, the frankensteind storm as it has been called, dropped to tropical storm strength early Saturday. Forecasters prdict it will become a destructive “superstorm” that will impact the Eastern Seaboard as early as Sunday. CNN.com has the complete story. Read more:
