(MSNBC) MIAMI, Aug. 5 —  Ten weeks into hurricane season, it’s been unusually quiet — not even one big storm. But forecasters warn that a mean season is highly probable in the next few months with some heavy hitting hurricanes. Off the coast of Africa where hurricanes take shape, a tropical wave was forming Thursday that could produce a killer storm.

“NO ONE should relax now,” said Dr. William Gray, America’s leading hurricane forecaster, who studies satellite images along with air and water temperatures. “As we’ve been looking at all the oceanic and atmospheric signals round the globe, we think this is going to be a very active year.”
 
At the start of hurricane season on June 1, Gray predicted 14-named big storms — nine of them hurricanes and four with winds exceeding 130 m.p.h. At the National Hurricane Center in Miami, forecasters say they too fear a mean season ahead.

“I don’t think we’re ready to write this season off. ... We’ve got a boomer coming, we think,” said forecaster Jerry Jarrell.
The hurricane season typically lasts from June to November, but in the last 100 years the stretch from mid-August to October has been by far the most active.