GEORGE TOWN, Grand Cayman: Weather watchers will have to wait until the first of next month for noted hurricane forecaster Bill Gray to present his updated forecast of hurricane activity for 2005, however, Gray said we could see what he termed another more-active-than-average season. During the month of December, Gray forecast that this year's season could see at least 11 storms, six of which may become hurricanes, three of them major with winds in excess of 111 mph. Weather observers are of the view that it is a bit above the average for storms since 1950, which is 9.6 named storms, 5.9 hurricanes and 2.3 intense hurricanes a year. Speaking on Friday at the culmination of this year's National Hurricane Conference held in New Orleans, Gray noted that "It's not going to change that much, but we will tweak it up some." It was also pointed out that the key factors responsible for the increase in this year's activity included the continuation of an extended pattern of active hurricane seasons that started back in 1995, as well as a reduced chance of an active El Nino pattern of warm water in the Pacific Ocean off the West Coast and warmer-than-average water temperatures in the Northern Atlantic Ocean. Last year's season recorded 15 tropical or subtropical storms, including nine hurricanes, six of which were major. One of those seriously damaged Grenada and the Cayman Islands, six of the hurricanes along with three tropical storms reached the United States with four lashing Florida. Meanwhile, the people of Grenada are once again preparing themselves for this year's season as they are still struggling to rebuild the country following Ivan's pounding of the country on September 8th which destroyed 92% of the building stock in the country. China and Venezuela have been assisting the Mitchell government with the construction of 2,140 low income houses for residents. Reprinted from Caribbean Net News caribbeannetnews.com