Claims News Service, Dec. 7, 11:26 a.m. EST — Just a week after2005's official hurricane season came to a close, the Department ofAtmospheric Science at Colorado State University has released areport on what to expect for the 2006.

Authors Philip Klotzbach and William Gray state that although anactive season is believed to be in store next year, they expectfewer major hurricanes to make landfall in comparison to 2004 and2005. Seventeen storms are predicted to be named, with ninedeveloping into hurricanes. Five of those are expected to becomeintense hurricanes. In comparison, 2005 featured 26 named storms,with 14 storms being named and seven becoming intense hurricanes. Ahurricane is classified as being intense when it reaches Category 3status or higher.

The probability of a major catastrophe still is sizeable for2006. The report states that there is an 81 percent chance anintense hurricane would strike the U.S. coastal areas. Gray andKlotzbach predict that the East Coast has a 64 percent chance ofbeing hit and the Gulf Coast (from the Florida Panhandle toBrownsville, Texas) a 47 percent chance.