2-3 Pacific storms expected this year

Hawaii and the rest of the central Pacific face a slightly below-average hurricane season this summer, with just two or three tropical cyclones expected, federal forecasters said Monday.

With sea surface temperatures lower than average, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Central Pacific Hurricane Center predicted possible La Nina conditions resulting in less tropical cyclone activity.

Those conditions and the overall reduction in hurricane activity in that region since 1995 led to the prediction for the June-November season, said Jim Weyman, director of the hurricane center, at a news conference.

In a La Nina _ the opposite of the better-known El Nino events _ the waters of the mid-Pacific equatorial region are cooler than normal.

Hurricane season begins June 1 and ends Nov. 30. The islands get an average of 4.5 tropical cyclones a year and one hurricane about every 15 years. Last year, the central Pacific had five tropical cyclones after NOAA predicted two to three.

"When I give a slightly below average forecast it always troubles me because people always think they don't have to worry, and that is not the message we want to take," Weyman said. "The message is it only takes that one to cause tremendous devastation."

Since 1959, 62 hurricanes, 67 tropical storms and 61 tropical depressions have been tracked in the central Pacific. The last hurricane to hit Hawaii was in 1992 when Iniki ravaged Kauai, killing six people and causing $2.5 billion in damage.

In a nod to Hawaiian culture, the hurricane center will now use only Hawaiian names for tropical storms and hurricanes, Weyman said. The next one will be called Kika.

Private and university forecasters have predicted that the 2007 Atlantic hurricane season will be especially active, producing as many as 17 tropical storms and hurricanes and a "well above average" possibility of at least one striking the U.S. The federal government plans to release its predictions Tuesday.

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On the Net:

Central Pacific Hurricane Center: http://www.weather.gov/cphc