AccuWeather predicts hurricane landfalls in Southeast U.S.

The number of storms in the Atlantic basin will likely be above average, with an increased chance of hurricane landfall in the United States this year, predicts AccuWeather.com.Joe Bastardi, AccuWeather.com Hurricane Center chief meteorologist, released his early predictions for the 2008 hurricane season. He points to the waning La Nina conditions and a continued warm water cycle in the Atlantic Basin as the two defining factors influencing the 2008 hurricane season.”The warming is not uniform across the entire Atlantic,” he said in a statement. “The warmest waters relative to normal will be in the northern areas of the Atlantic, especially toward the North American continent.”This, he noted, could potentially increase the threat of major landfalls on the U.S. coast.”In determining areas of elevated potential for landfall, we try to understand where the spread of storm tracks will centre but even within this spread, storms can bunch, creating discrete areas of increased risk,” he said.”Last season, the spread of the storms shifted southwest with one such bunch in the northern Caribbean. This year, early indications show that the spread will move north and east with a target closer to the southeast U.S.”