Forecasters are predicting an above average hurricane season this year.

Meteorologists at Colorado State University say seven storms are expected to develop into hurricanes, said Reuters,

There is a 52 per cent probability that a major hurricane will move into the Caribbean Sea during the 2018 season

The United States Gulf and East Coast face roughly equal chances of being struck by a major hurricane between June and the end of November.

Philip Klotzbach and Michael Bell wrote in their forecast: “Long-term statistics show that, on average, the more active the overall Atlantic basin hurricane season is, the greater the probability of US hurricane landfall.”

The forecasters said there was a 39 per cent probability a major hurricane would strike the East Coast and a 38 per cent probability such a storm would make landfall between the Florida panhandle and Brownsville, Texas.

An average Atlantic hurricane season produces 12 named storms, including six hurricanes.

Last year, the Caribbean and the United States were battered by a series of major hurricanes, but no hurricane watches or warnings were issued for Bermuda for the first time in ten years.

The storms racked up $202.6 billion in damages, making 2017 the most expensive US Atlantic hurricane season ever.