So far about every forecast issued by both the private sector and the government calls for a near normal year as far as the number of storms is concerned.  An average year yields 11 named storms, 6 hurricanes, and 2 of those hurricanes becoming cat 3 or stronger.

This is a bit of a change from the past few years where we have seen very active seasons.

Remember, just because the season is projected to be less active than last, it only takes one big storm to change the whole ballgame.  All you have to do is go back to 1992 when Hurricane Andrew devastated South Florida and Louisiana.  Andrew was the first named storm of the season in August, and the rest of the season was generally inactive.