Ellington

MIAMI (AP) — U.S. forecasters are updating their outlook for the six-month Atlantic hurricane season.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration releases its initial seasonal outlook each May. The outlook gets updated in early August as the peak period for storms begins.

This year, NOAA forecasters predicted the season would produce a normal number of about nine to 15 tropical storms, with as many as four to eight storms strengthening into hurricanes. NOAA will update that outlook Thursday.

So far this year there have been four tropical storms and two hurricanes.

One of those hurricanes — Ernesto — made landfall late Tuesday as a Category 1 hurricane on Mexico's Caribbean coast near its border with Belize.