According to recent reports from the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and National Hurricane Center (NHC), the 2016 hurricane season is forecast to be the strongest and most active season experienced since 2012. Currently brewing in the Pacific is the 11th named storm of this year, while the Atlantic Ocean's sixth tropical storm churns over open waters.

As of the most recent public advisory from the NHC, issued at 11:00 a.m. AST., the center of Tropical Storm Fiona was located near latitude 17.8 north, longitude 43.5 west, approximately 1,295 miles west of the Cabo Verde Islands. Fiona is moving in a north-northwesterly direction at approximately 10 miles per hour and this motion is expected to continue, with increased forward speed through the next few days.

"We've raised these [predicted] numbers [from a less active storm season outlook forecast earlier this year] because some conditions now in place are indicative of a more active hurricane season, such as El Niño ending, weaker vertical wind shear, and weaker trade winds over the central tropical Atlantic, and a stronger west African monsoon," said Gerry Bell, lead seasonal forecaster at NOAA's Climate Prediction Center.

In terms of the 2016 Eastern Pacific Hurricane Season outlook, however, NOAA forecasters indicate with 40 percent certainty that a "near-normal" hurricane season is expected. For the Eastern Pacific, a normal storm season generally produces between 13-20 named storms. Of that number, between six and 11 storms can be expected to achieve hurricane status, with between three and six of those storms developing into major hurricanes.

However...

"Hurricane disasters can occur whether the season is active or relatively quiet...it only takes one hurricane (or even a tropical storm) to cause a disaster," NOAA Climate Prediction Center Meteorologists noted. "Therefore, residents, businesses, and government agencies of coastal...regions are urged to prepare for every hurricane season regardless of this, or any other, seasonal outlook."