Watching the Watchers

In the waiting-for stage, let's look at what the experts said we could expect this year, storm-wise.

The outlook calls for 12-15 tropical storms, with 6-8 becoming hurricanes, and 2-4 of these becoming major hurricanes.

Let's take this claim-by-claim:

• The outlook calls for 12-15 tropical storms...
  So far, we've had 12.
• ...with 6-8 becoming hurricanes...
  I count 7 so far, with Lisa still out there.
• ...and 2-4 of these becoming major hurricanes.
  I'm thinking Frances, Ivan and Jeanne now count as "major"?

Note that I take any prediction with a grain of salt. But hey, if there's only a couple of storms left (and maybe one biggy) in the next 10 weeks of Hurricane Season, I'll take the hope I can get!