The US weather agency - National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) - has warned that the North Atlantic could get as many as seven major hurricanes of category three strength or greater this year, which would be more than double the usual number.
Normally the expectation would be for three major hurricanes in a season.
As many as 13 Atlantic hurricanes of category one or above are forecast for the period, which runs from June 1 to November 30.
Record high sea surface temperatures are partly to blame, as is a likely shift in regional weather patterns.
While there is no evidence climate change is producing more hurricanes, it is making the most powerful ones more likely, and bringing heavier rainfall.
NOAA administrator Rick Spinrad said in a news conference that this hurricane season is expected to be "an extraordinary one".
In total NOAA expects 17 to 25 named tropical storms, of which eight to 13 could become hurricanes and of those, four to seven could become major ones.
The highest number of major hurricanes in a single Atlantic season is seven, seen in both 2005 and 2020. NOAA's forecast suggests that 2024 could come close to that.
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