Another busy hurricane season possible

A La Nina was being watched closely by the U.S. National Weather Service for the possibility it might help produce another busy Atlantic hurricane season.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate Prediction Center in Camp Springs, Md., told the Pensacola (Fla.,) News Journal it is closely tracking the cool pool of Pacific water that's far west of South America, affecting weather patterns worldwide, including those in the Atlantic Basin.

Gary Beeler, senior meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Mobile, Ala., told the News Journal: "We're already in that cycle of busy storms. La Nina means more on top of that. It will mean more storms than normal, but how many I don't know."

The U.S. hurricane season starts June 1 and the official NOAA Atlantic hurricane forecast is issued in late spring.

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