7.1.2008 3:30 PM

Hurricane Boris Losing Strength

Category 1 Hurricane Is First of 2008 Season

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Hurricane Boris was a Category 1 hurricane - the first of the 2008 season - on July 1. After forming from a tropical storm early on July 1 it was expected to lose strength and return to tropical storm strength July 2 while still far from land in the Pacific Ocean.

Photo: NOAA

By Dan Shapley

Hurricane Boris, the first hurricane of the season, is losing strength and could swirl down to tropical storm-strength before the day is through, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Hurricane Boris, which formed as a tropical storm over the weekend west of Baja California, gained strength as it headed west through the Pacific. It became a Category 1 hurricane, with sustained winds of nearly 75 mph. The Category 1 hurricane is headed more or less toward Hawaii, but is not expected to make landfall as a damaging storm.

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.

Joint Typhoon Warning Center