(NAFB) – The average hurricane season will feature more predicted storms, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Beginning with this year’s hurricane season outlooks, NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center will use 1991-2020 as the new 30-year period of record. The updated averages for the Atlantic hurricane season have increased with 14 named storms and seven hurricanes. The average for major hurricanes, Category 3, 4 or 5, remains unchanged at three. The previous Atlantic storm averages, based on the period from 1981 to 2010, were 12 named storms, six hurricanes, and three major hurricanes.

NOAA is updating the set of statistics used to determine when hurricane seasons are above-, near-, or below-average relative to the climate record. This update process occurs once every decade. The increase in the averages may be attributed to the overall improvement in observing platforms, including NOAA’s fleet of next-generation environmental satellites and continued hurricane reconnaissance.

NOAA says it may also be due to the warming ocean and atmosphere, which are influenced by climate change.