The Colorado State University has released its annual hurricane season forecast on 7th December predicting up to 15 named storms will form during the 2012 hurricane season. University forecasters have released the annual report for the last three decades.

According to the report, there is a 45 percent possibility for an above-average hurricane season in 2012. In general, that means 12 to 15 named storms will form between June 1 to November 30.

Forecasters expect seven to nine of those named storms to become hurricanes, with three to four of them categorized as major hurricanes. Any storm category 3 and above is considered a major hurricane. The major factor that helps university forecasters create their annual report is Atlantic Thermohaline Circulation (THC).

Forecasters said, “When THC is stronger than normal, the tropical Atlantic [is] usually more conducive for hurricane formation and intensification”. The university will provide updates for the 2012 hurricane forecast on April 4, June 1 and Aug. 3.

Folks in the communities along the U.S. Gulf Coast from Texas to Florida are getting prepared for their yearly dose of dread.

Hurricane season enters June 1, and residents of coastal areas will switch on the evening news each night wondering if there will be a small swirl off the coast of Africa that could grow a few weeks later into their worst nightmare.

This year, Gulf Coast residents may want to omit the weather report and pray instead.If a hurricane batters the region in 2010, it could slit into some communities already hanging by a thread.The massive oil polished from the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig catastrophe is threatening the livelihood of shrimpers, fishermen and businesses along the hurricane-exposed coast in Louisiana and Alabama.