This year could be another busy one for hurricanes, a US-based weather service warned yesterday,

AccuWeather's early 2020 Atlantic hurricane forecast said it expected between 14 and 18 tropical storms over the season, which starts on June 1.

Between seven and nine storms are expected to reach hurricane strength.

Two to four were predicted to become “major” hurricanes of at least Category 3 strength.

Dan Kottlowski of AccuWeather said: “It's going to be an above-normal season.

“In a normal year, we have around 12 storms, six hurricanes and roughly three major hurricanes.”

Last year was the fourth consecutive season with above-average hurricane activity and had 18 named storms.

AccuWeather explained that the firm compared indicators with past years where similar conditions were present — and highlighted the “hyperactive” 2005 season.

A total of 28 named storms formed in 2005 — so many that meteorologists ran out of names and adopted Greek letters to name the later ones.

Mr Kottlowski added: “There are a number of analogue years we looked at that certainly show high-impact storms affecting the United States.”

AccuWeather also factored in warmer than average waters in the Caribbean as one of the reasons behind their forecast.

Mr Kottlowski said: “Warm water is actually what drives a lot of seasons, so those will be areas to keep an eye on for early-season development.”