Crystal Ball

(Fox News) - Unsettling news for people who believe weather patterns — and global warming — can be predicted by computer models years in advance — and that climate change is fueling ever-stronger hurricanes. The Atlantic hurricane season ends Friday — and for the third straight year forecasters are being criticized for inaccurate pre-season predictions. They underestimated the intensity of the 2005 hurricanes — then went way over last year and missed on the high side again this year.

The Miami Herald reports former National Hurricane Center Director Max Mayfield says, "The seasonal hurricane forecasters certainly have a lot of explaining to do."

Many researchers are concerned that substantial errors in the pre-season predictions are undermining the public's faith in the real-time forecasting made as the storms are actually unfolding. One former NOAA hurricane researcher says the pre-season forecasters — "have no skill in making predictions that far in advance."