NEW YORK (Bloomberg) — Seven storms may strike the US coastline this hurricane season, and some may cut across Florida before moving into the Gulf of Mexico, according to an outlook from AccuWeather.com.At least three weather systems in the Atlantic Basin will strengthen to major hurricanes with winds above 111 miles per hour (179 kilometres per hour), said Joe Bastardi, chief hurricane forecaster for State College, Pennsylvania-based AccuWeather. As many as 14 tropical storms may form during the June-through-November season, he said at a hurricane conference in Houston yesterday. "The highest area of risk has swung southwest from the Atlantic to Florida and the eastern and central Gulf Coast regions," Bastardi said. The area at the highest risk stretches from the mouth of the Mississippi River to Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, he said.

Experts are warning of above-average activity after overestimating last year's below-normal season, when 10 tropical storms and five hurricanes took shape. Three struck the US, including Ernesto, which caused more than $100 million in damage in North Carolina and Virginia.

Bastardi, whose forecasts focus on the path of storms rather than the number, said last year the East Coast was more vulnerable to a strike than the Gulf of Mexico. This year, systems may mimic Hurricane Katrina, which cut through the Florida peninsula before heading for the Gulf to make a second U.S. landfall, he said.

The storms also may have "increased intensities," Bastardi said.

Energy traders closely follow the Atlantic hurricane season for signs the weather may disrupt energy production in the Gulf of Mexico, which accounts for 30 percent of US oil and 21 percent of its natural gas. In 2005, hurricanes, including Katrina, cost insurers $57.9 billion, according to a survey of claims by Insurance Services Office Inc. in Jersey City, New Jersey. "Any time you have hurricanes roaming the Gulf of Mexico, there is the possibility that energy production could be disrupted," said Ken Reeves, AccuWeather's director of forecast operations. "This obviously could affect the prices consumers pay for gasoline and natural gas."

Bastardi told an audience at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess last month that he expected higher-than-normal hurricane activity this year, without going into numbers.

Bastardi's outlook is slightly below that of other forecasts as the atmosphere corrects after the heightened activity in 2005, when a record number of storms formed.

"I don't think we'll get over 15 storms because of this natural cycle we're seeing," he said.

Other forecasters also are predicting a more active season. Colorado State University researchers Philip Klotzbach and William Gray said last month they expect 17 storms and nine hurricanes, five of which will reach Category 3 force. Weather systems become named tropical storms once winds reach 39 mph. Hurricanes have winds of more than 74 mph.

Tropical Storm Risk, a London-based group of forecasters and insurance companies, expects 16 storms and four major hurricanes in the US this season.