Meteorologists are predicting another blockbuster Atlantic hurricane season that could bring even more destruction than the storms of 2024.
AccuWeather has released their first forecast for the 2025 season and it includes as many as six major storms directly hitting the US this summer.
That's the same number of storms that caused roughly $500 billion in damage in 2024, with Hurricanes Helene and Milton bringing the most destruction.
'After a historic 2024 season, which was correctly predicted by AccuWeather to be 'supercharged' and a 'blockbuster,' an active Atlantic hurricane season is again predicted for 2025,' meteorologists said.
This year, forecasters project that there will be as many as 18 named storms, up to 10 hurricanes, and five major hurricanes to watch carefully as they cross the Atlantic.
Currently, the AccuWeather team believes its highly unlikely that this year's hurricane season will be weaker than average.
In the worst case scenarios, 2025's storms could start forming as early as May and the last hurricanes of the season in October and November could still be dangerously powerful.
The ominous forecast is being fueled by meteorologists predicting an absence of El Niño this hurricane season.
El Niño is a weather phenomenon that can last for eight to 12 months and brings unusually warm sea-surface temperatures to the eastern half of the Pacific - but it also creates a weakened storm system in the Atlantic.
With El Niño likely out of the picture, meteorologists are projecting that this year's El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is leaning towards staying neutral or shifting to La Niña later in 2025.
ENSO is a short-term change in climate determined by the warming or cooling of the Pacific Ocean's waters along the equator.
Right now, the forecast is for these waters to stay relatively normal throughout hurricane season, with a chance that they could turn colder in late summer or fall - the La Niña phenomenon.
In either of these cases, the AccuWeather team says the results will likely produce a stronger hurricane season for the Atlantic - meaning the threat of more storms slamming into the US East Coast.
'While La Niña typically yields a more active hurricane season in the Atlantic Ocean due to less frequent vertical wind shear, the neutral phase of ENSO can also contribute to an active season to a lesser extent,' AccuWeather meteorologists wrote in their report Wednesday.
As for how many of these hurricanes will make direct impact with the US, forecasters looked at this summer's predictions for the Bermuda-Azores high - a subtropical high-pressure cell that moves westward during the summer and fall.
The Bermuda-Azores high basically guides tropical storms and hurricanes from the waters near Africa to the Caribbean and US.
Depending on how this high-pressure cell behaves throughout hurricane season will reveal how many storms spin right into America's East Coast.
A strong Bermuda-Azores high will force more of 2025's storm to barrel into Florida and move up the coast.
A weaker Bermuda-Azores high will cause more of these storms to curl up and fade away out in the Atlantic.
Right now, the forecast is for three to six major storms to directly strike the US. Three would be about an average hurricane season, while six would be as bad as last year.
'Similar to last year, the northern and eastern Gulf Coast and the Carolinas are at a higher-than-average risk of direct impacts this season. Atlantic Canada as well as the northeastern Caribbean are also at an increased risk of direct impacts,' AccuWeather added.
In 2024, the six storms that directly struck the US included Hurricanes Helene, Milton, Beryl, Debby, Francine, and one unnamed storm.
Hurricane Helene alone is estimated to have caused up to $250 billion in damage - particularly in North Carolina.
AccuWeather's Jonathan Porter said: 'Thousands of families and small businesses across America are still struggling to recover from weather disasters over the past year.'
'We estimate that hurricanes, wildfires, winter storms, and impacts from extreme temperatures over the past 13 months have had a combined total damage and economic loss estimated at $693 billion to $799 billion,' the senior vice president of weather content and forecast operations added.
While hurricane season officially begins June 1, meteorologists noted that the sea-surface temperatures in the Atlantic basin are currently far warmer than normal.
This includes the waters in the Caribbean and the Gulf of America (formerly the Gulf of Mexico).
AccuWeather predicts a strong chance this will remain the same into the summer, meaning that storms are able to intensify faster, especially when they reach the Caribbean.
The combination of these warmer waters in the Atlantic basin and colder La Niña conditions in the Pacific could lead to 2025's hurricane season actually starting in May, not June.
Meteorologists are urging everyone in the potential path of the Atlantic hurricane season to make sure they have a plan in place when the storms arrive.
This includes having a plan to evacuate and also knowing what supplies and emergency equipment you'll need when the weather turns dangerous.
