Forecasters: Quiet hurricane season expected

The federal government is predicting a below-average 2015 hurricane season in the Atlantic Basin, it announced Wednesday.

Three to six hurricanes are expected to form in the region, which includes the Atlantic, the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico.

AccuWeather and The Weather Channel, two of the biggest private weather forecasting companies, also expect a quiet hurricane season. AccuWeather said eight named tropical storms will form, four of them hurricanes. The Weather Channel forecasts nine tropical storms — five of them hurricanes.

Since 2000, NOAA's tropical storm and hurricane forecasts have been hit or miss: NOAA's prediction has been accurate in eight of the past 15 years, according to a USA TODAY analysis.

The next few named storms of the Atlantic hurricane season this year will be Bill, Claudette, Danny, Erika and Fred.