Wednesday, December 7th, 2005 — A leading tropical forecast team predicted Tuesday that next year’s season will be very active, with a well-above-average number of major storms being created. In its first outlook for 2006, the project team expects 17 named tropical storms in the June-through-November season where in a normal year, the Atlantic usually produces only about 10 storms. This year, it had its most on record with 26, including four hurricanes that blasted U.S. shores such as Dennis, Katrina, Rita and Wilma.