7.1.2008 9:14 AM

Hurricane Boris Forms in Pacific

Category 1 Hurricane Is First of 2008 Season

Hurricane Boris - Category 1 on July 1, 2008

Hurricane Boris reached Category 1 hurricane strength in the Pacific Ocean on July 1, 2008. It was the first hurricane of the 2008 season.

Photo: Joint Typhoon Warning Center

By Dan Shapley

The first hurricane of the season has formed, and its name is Boris.

Hurricane Boris, which formed as a tropical storm over the weekend west of Baja California, gained strength as it headed west through the Pacific.

Storm watchers in the United States typically watch the Atlantic basin more closely, because the more destructive storms are more likely to form there.

The forecast from the government's Climate Prediction Center says it's likely that 2008 will be an active year for hurricanes in the Atlantic basin, which includes the Caribbean. For gamblers, there's a 65% probability that we'll see an above-average storm season, a 25% chance it will be average and just 10% that it will be below average.

What does that mean? It means there's a good chance we'll see 12 to 16 named storms, including six to nine hurricanes and two to five major hurricanes (Category 3, 4 or 5 on the Saffir-Simpson Scale). Average is 11 named storms including six hurricanes, two of them major storms.

The hurricane season officially begins June 1, though storms typically reach a peak in late summer.

Early in the morning on July 1, Hurricane Boris reached weak hurricane strength, with sustained winds near 75 mph. The Category 1 hurricane is headed more or less toward Hawaii, but is not expected to make landfall as a damaging storm.

Joint Typhoon Warning Center