(Bloomberg) -- Last year, spurred on by El Niño, anear-record number of storms raged across the eastern PacificOcean, including Patricia, the strongesthurricane recorded in the Western Hemisphere.

With El Niño fading, this year’s season, which startsSunday, probably won’t be as explosive.

Jeff Masters, co-founder of Weather Underground in Ann Arbor,Michigan, described 2015 as “insane.” From the InternationalDateline to Mexico’s coast, 26 storms strengthened enough toreceive names — one below the 1992 record — and 16 becamehurricanes, tying a record.

“The action in 2016 should be less intense, thanks to coolersea-surface temperatures,” he said.

Hurricanes on the eastern side of the Pacific, called typhoonson the other side, are closely watched because the region includesthe ports of Lazaro Cardenas and Manzanillo, among Mexico’sbusiest, and the resorts of Cabo San Lucas and Acapulco.

Hawaii outlook

Then there is Hawaii, “which has been under the gun during the pasttwo hurricane seasons, with one direct hit and a number of closecalls,” Masters said. The parade of storms past the island statewas unusual and probably won’t continue into 2016.

El Niño, a warming of the equatorial Pacific, is blamed forcreating conditions that get storms spinning across the basin. Inrecent months, the ocean’s surface has been cooling, withtemperatures in the area between Hawaii and Mexico already about 2degrees Fahrenheit (1 Celsius) lower than a year ago, Masterssaid.

The Australian Bureau ofMeteorology on Tuesday declared El Niño just aboutdead, and the agency puts the odds of a La Nina, a cooling of theocean’s surface, at about 50% for the rest of the year.

Last Friday, Mexico’s Servicio MeterologicoNacional forecast that this season would bring 17named storms, five of them hurricanes and four major systems withwinds of 111 miles (179 kilometers) per hour or more, for thecoastal Mexico region.

Coastal Mexico

Seventeen storms would be two more than the 30-year average for thearea. In 2015, it saw 18 named storms. Thirteen turned intohurricanes and nine became major systems.

A tropical system receives a name when its cyclonic winds reach39 mph. A hurricane has a top sustained speed of 74 mph, and majorstorms — Categories 3 through 5 — have winds strongenough to snap trees and blow houses apart.

So while this year may be less intense for the Eastern Pacific,no one should relax when a storm nears. It only takes one to ruinyour year.

Related: Insured losses in Mexico from Hurricane Patriciaestimated at less than $200 million

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