The Atlantic hurricane season begins Tuesday and runs through Nov. 30. The experts are predicting it will be busier than usual, with 14 to 20 named storms, about twice as many as last year. Four of those are expected to pack winds of 111 mph or more. While forecasters donÕt always agree on the precise number of storms in a coming season, they all agree this is shaping up to be a bad one. HereÕs a look at the four main factors driving these predictions.

The most important conditions used to determine hurricane activity are also the toughest to predict, said Jeff Masters, founder of wunderground.com.