Federal forecasters are predicting slightly fewer named stormsfor this year's hurricane season.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said it nowpredicts a total of 12 to 15 named storms, down slightly from the13 to 16 it predicted earlier this year.

NOAA said that three or four will become hurricanes--rated asCategory 3, with winds up to 130 mph, or higher.

NOAA administrator Conrad Lautenbacher said this year's threenamed storms so far have paled in comparison to the nine thatformed in the same period last year.

"But conditions will remain favorable for above-normal activityfor the rest of the season," he said in a statement. "So, we arenot off the hook by any means."

Gerry Bell, NOAA's lead seasonal hurricane forecaster, said thatwarmer than normal sea surface temperatures are once again evident,just as they have been since the current active Atlantic hurricaneera began in 1995.

But the NOAA noted the "La Nina-like convection in the centralequatorial Pacific during June and July of 2005" that contributedto early storms is not present this year.

Last week, Colorado State University professor William Gray alsoreduced the number of hurricanes forecasted from nine to seven,three to five of which will be intense.

Atlantic sea surface temperatures are not quite as warm as lastyear, and tropical Atlantic surface pressure is not quite as low,Mr. Gray said in a statement.

"This year it looks like the East Coast is more likely to betargeted by Atlantic basin hurricanes than the Gulf Coast, althoughthe possibility exists that any point along the U.S. coast could beaffected this year," he said.