Hurricane forecasters at Colorado State University now predict this year’s hurricane activity "will be slightly below the long-term," according to a revised forecast.

The September forecast called for 13 named Atlantic and Gulf Coast storms, five of which are projected to grow into hurricanes. This number represents a drop from the August 2006 forecast of 15 named storms, seven of which would develop into hurricanes issued by the team.

"We now expect that the 2006 hurricane season will have slightly less hurricane activity than the long-term average," said the forecasters in a statement. "This is due to an unexpected increase in tropic Atlantic midlevel dryness (with large amounts of African dust) and a continued trend towards El Niño-like conditions in the eastern and central Pacific."