Tropical Storm Risk, a site created by British scientists and sponsored by the insurance industry, predicted that, on the basis of current and projected climate data, the hurricane season would be 160 percent above average in terms of numbers.

This translates into 14 tropical storms for the Atlantic basin as a whole, with eight of these developing into hurricanes and four developing into "intense hurricanes."

Four storms, two of them hurricanes, are likely to make landfall in the United States, it said.

"It does look like it will be another busy and damaging year for hurricanes," lead scientist Mark Saunders told AFP.

Hurricanes are the most expensive natural disaster in the United States . The average annual insured loss from hurricane strikes, from 1950-2004, when costed at 2004 values, is 3.0 billion dollars, the website said.

The Northwest Pacific typhoon season is rated "slightly above average," which translates into 28 tropical storms for the region as a whole, 18 of which would be typhoons and nine "intense" typhoons.

The scientific skills for Tropical Storm Risk come from the Benfield Hazard Research Centre at University College London.

The Atlantic hurricane seasons runs from June 1 to November 30, but most of the storms, and the most damaging ones, occur from August onwards.

Tropical Storm Risk will issue an update a month from now, which will be followed on August 4 by a forecast of the post-August hurricane risk, Saunders said.

That forecast will be based on a new statistical tool which looks at anomalies in wind patterns in the early summer that are considered to be telltales about how the later season develops.

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