Will El Niño Knock Down 2014's Hurricanes?
Atlantic hurricanes look less plentiful this year, say federal forecasters.
Should the El Niño form, meteorologists suggest it may bring badly needed rain to the western U.S.
The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30, peaking in September. NOAA administrator Kathryn Sullivan said that her agency predicts that 8 to 14 named tropical storms with winds of at least 35 miles per hour will form in the Atlantic Basin, which includes the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean Sea.
Three to six of those storms could intensify into hurricanes with winds of at least 74 miles per hour, Sullivan said. And one or two hurricanes could become major hurricanes with winds exceeding 110 miles per hour, she said. (See: "Hurricanes 101.")
"It only takes one destructive storm
