After a rest, the North Atlantic is forecast to return to above normal tropical cyclone activity for the 2010 hurricane season according to Philip J. Klotzbach and William M. Gray at the Colorado State University.
Factors cited by the report include warm sea temperatures due to the continued warm phase of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO)and that the present El Nino is expected to weaken before the onset of the next hurricane season (El Nino conditions tend to reduce the number of storms).
The team is forecasting 11-16 named systems, 6-8 hurricanes and 3-5 intense hurricanes during 2010.