NOAA predicts near-normal 2023 hurricane season with potential for major storms.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has predicted a typical Atlantic hurricane season this summer and fall, with 12 to 17 tropical storms and five to nine of those cyclones forecast to strengthen into hurricanes. The agency has urged people to prepare for more dangerous and rapidly intensifying storms, and potentially an eighth consecutive above-normal hurricane season. The agency assigned relatively even probabilities of above, below or near-normal storm seasons due to the rare condition of both warming ocean waters and a developing El Niño weather pattern. NOAA officials said they are better prepared for forecasting such storm impacts as this season begins, in part because of major federal spending through recent federal laws focused on infrastructure investment and inflation reduction.