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Hurricane season officially begins on June 1. Yet there's already a tropical storm (Andrea ) spiraling 100 miles southeast of Savannah, Ga. -- and it's only early May. What does this mean?

The same researchers at North Carolina State University (NCSU) in Raleigh who were so accurate last year in predicting a milder-than-normal season are back, this year forecasting a very active hurricane season, including 30-50% more Atlantic storms than average.

In 2006, most weather forecasters called for a season of violent storms. Amid the dire warnings, Dr. Lian Xie (pronounced "shay"), a professor in NCSU's Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, took a different view. Using analytical software from SAS http://www.sas.com , Xie and his team spotted a trend in 100 years' worth of weather data. They went against the crowd and predicted a mild season. They were right http://www.newsobserver.com/856/story/505031.html .

Xie and his team's SAS-powered hurricane model predict http://news.ncsu.edu/releases/2007/april/073.html a far busier hurricane season in 2007. Not good news for coastal residents. But accurate forecasting can help governments, local officials and homeowners prepare.

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