People living on the Gulf and East coasts can expect an above average number of hurricanes this season, according to North American weather forecasters.

Peter Bowyer of the Canadian Hurricane Centre said people north of the border should prepare themselves.

"Canadians are still having a hard time coming to grips with the fact that hurricanes are an issue for us," he told reporters Tuesday. "They are an issue for us."

Boyer added, however, that seasonal forecasts are not accurate indicators of how many storms will hit between June and November.

"Suppose this NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) forecast works out perfectly. The number of storms that actually will visit us doesn't seem to have a lot of connection with the number of storms that are out there," he said.

"While tropical cyclone activity may be high in the Atlantic this year, there is little information to tell us what we can expect in Canada."

Still, Bowyer said tropical storms have had a devastating impact on Canada's waters and inland areas in the past six years, and people need to react accordingly.

"There's this idea that because of all this technology that the perfect forecast is out there. It's never going to happen," said Bowyer. "We approach the coming hurricane season with the same message . . . be aware and be prepared."

Forecasters predict anywhere from 13 to 17 tropical storms this season, with seven to 10 of them potentially turning into hurricanes.

An average Atlantic hurricane season consists of 11 named storms, with six becoming hurricanes.

Meanwhile, the NOAA said there is a 75 per cent chance of above-normal hurricane activity.

"With expectations for an active season, it is critically important that people who live in East and Gulf coastal areas as well as the Caribbean be prepared," said Bill Proenza, director of the national hurricane center in Miami.

The El Nino climate phenomenon helped reduce the number of hurricanes and tropical storms last year. But El Nino may not form this year, possibly leaving the Gulf and East coasts more vulnerable to tropical storms.

Every few years, El Nino has a warming effect on the tropical Pacific Ocean, altering weather patterns and usually lowering the number of summer hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean.

This year could also see the formation of La Nina, the flipside of the El Nino. The weather pattern increases the number of storms in the Atlantic.

"There is some uncertainty this year as to whether or not La Ni�a will form, and if it does how strong it will be," Gerry Bell, lead seasonal hurricane forecaster at the NOAA Climate Prediction Center, said in a press release.

"The Climate Prediction Center is indicating that La Nina could form in the next one to three months. If La Nina develops, storm activity will likely be in the upper end of the predicted range, or perhaps even higher depending on how strong La Nina becomes. Even if La Nina does not develop, the conditions associated with the ongoing active hurricane era still favor an above-normal season."

The southeast cost has already been hit with the year's first named storm, Andrea, more than three weeks before the June 1 official start of the hurricane season.

The season ends on Nov. 30, but the devastating hurricane season of 2005, marked by storms Rita and Katrina, continued until late December.

It's estimated Katrina was responsible for up to 1,500 deaths, making it the third deadliest storm in U.S. history. It also caused the country more than US$48 billion in damage. Rita cost nearly $12 billion in damage.

There were so many storms in 2005 that forecasters had to switch over to the Greek alphabet to continue naming them.

But in 2006, with El Nino active, there were just 10 named storms in the Atlantic. None of them made landfall on the U.S. coast.

With files from The Canadian Press and The Associated Press