Colorado State University's forecasting team on Wednesday maintained its 2011 Atlantic storm season forecast at nine hurricanes, with five of them expected to be major.
The research team, founded by hurricane forecast pioneer William Gray, said the six-month hurricane season which started on June 1 would see 16 tropical storms. That was unchanged from its June 1 projection.
There have been five tropical storms but no hurricanes so far this season, which is now approaching its traditional busy phase from mid-August to October.
"Major" storms are Category 3 or above on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale of intensity and have top winds of more than 110 miles per hour (177 km per hour).
The CSU team gave a 70 percent probability of a major hurricane making landfall along the U.S. coastline.
There was a 45 percent chance that a major hurricane would make landfall along the U.S. coast of the Gulf of Mexico, where major oil and gas facilities are located, according to the team.
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