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Preliminary 2012 hurricane forecast issued

Posted at 1:09 PM, Apr 05, 2012
and last updated 2012-04-05 16:05:29-04

Though it's been eight months,  the memory of Hurricane Irene may be fresh in your mind. Some may even still be dealing with repairs after the August 2011 storm.

There's good news today:Despite this unusually warm spring, experts are predicting a much less active hurricane season this year.

Colorado Sate University forecasters estimate there will be 10 named storms in the Atlantic Basin. They predict only four will become hurricanes and two - major hurricanes - which is a category 3 or more storm.

They say there's a 42 percent chance at least one major hurricane will make landfall in the U-S.

But according to CBS 6 Meteorologist Carrie Rose, these predicted numbers are likely to change often.

Bonus: Follow Carrie Rose on Twitter

"The Colorado team is likely to periodically adjust this prediction throughout the season," Rose said. "Those future changes will be more like a now-cast. What they are issuing early is a general expectation of the type of season overall that may occur, based on large-scale patterns like El Nino and La Nina that can impact tropical conditions, and thus, tropical cyclone development."

Rose said the National Hurricane Center will wait to announce their predictions later in the spring, closer to the start of the Atlantic Hurricane Season on June 1.

Click here to learn about tropical cyclone climatology.