forecasts of hurricane activity are issued before each hurricane season by noted hurricane experts such as dr. william m. gray and his associates at colorado state university (csu) and the weather research center (wrc). a normal season, as defined by the national oceanic and atmospheric administration (noaa), has 12.1 named storms; of these, 6.4 reach hurricane strength; and 2.7 major hurricanes, which are category 3 or higher on the saffir–simpson hurricane wind scale. additionally, the 1950–2000 csu average for a normal season is 9.6 named storms, of these 5.9 reach hurricane strength, and 2.3 become major hurricanes.