AccuWeather.com, which just issued its early hurricane season forecast, not only believes that the 2010 season will be more active than last year, but the private company sees the potential for an "extreme season" with an above-normal threat all along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts.

 The forecast was led by chief long-range meteorologist and hurricane forecaster Joe Bastardi, who believes that this year will be more like the 2008 hurricane season than the much quieter 2009 season. In 2008, there were 16 named storms, eight of which were hurricanes, including the major hurricane Ike that ravaged the upper Texas coast. In 2009, only two storms (one of which was a hurricane) made landfall, both along the Gulf Coast, making it the least active Atlantic hurricane season since 1997.

 The forecast projects 16 to 18 storms (hurricanes and tropical storms), 15 of which are expected to occur in the western Atlantic and in the Gulf of Mexico, potentially posing a threat to U.S. coastlines. Seven hurricanes are forecast by AccuWeather, five of them major (Category 3 or stronger). Two or three major hurricanes are projected to make landfall, with seven total storms making landfall. The forecast did not pinpoint which region (Gulf Coast, Florida or East Coast) has the greatest likelihood of land falling storms; AccuWeather thinks all coastal areas have an above-normal threat this season. 

 The meteorological reasoning behind the forecast for a more active hurricane season this year includes the expected rapid weakening of the current El Nino in the tropical Pacific. Pacific Ocean warming might seem like an odd factor to consider in an Atlantic basin forecast. But when an El Nino is occurring in the Pacific, the Atlantic hurricane season is typically much less active.

 Warmer sea surface temperatures in the tropical Atlantic this year are another factor in the projected storm activity.

 An expected weakening of Atlantic trade winds is another factor highlighted in AccuWeather's forecast. These easterly winds tend to pull dry air and dust from Africa into the tropical Atlantic, both of which are not conducive to tropical formation.

 The National Weather Service is scheduled to issue its hurricane forecast in May. The U.S. hurricane season officially begins June 1 and continues through November, although peak activity tends to occur around late August.