Hurricane Prediction Group Raises 2001 Atlantic Forecast.

A London-based group that forecasts hurricane activity has raised its prediction for the current season in the Atlantic basin, saying the number of hurricanes is likely to be 20% to 30% above the average for 1991-2000.

The Tropical Storm Risk consortium now is predicting 13 named storms, with eight of them to become hurricanes and three of them intense hurricanes with sustained winds exceeding 110 mph. The consortium also expects four tropical systems -- including two hurricanes--to hit the United States and two storms to strike the Lesser Antilles, one of them a hurricane, its early June forecast had called for a nearly average season, based on the 1991 -2000 average of 10.8 storms, 6.4 hurricanes and 2.7 intense hurricanes.

The upward revision follows a similar change by William Gray of Colorado State University, the most closely watched hurricane forecaster, who last month boosted the predicted number of storms to 12.