Police have detained two American men as part of an investigation into the strangling death of an Irish exchange student in Tokyo, local authorities said Sunday.
Nicola Furlong, 21, was found dead in a hotel room with one of the men, according to Tokyo police.
FULL STORYBefore the 96th Indianapolis 500 race on Sunday, "Back Home Again in Indiana" will be sung, and by the end, the winning driver will drink his Victory Lane bottle of milk. But superhero-esque cars and an all-female racing team are adding a few changes to the event's storied traditions.
The Brickyard
The Brickyard is the historic nickname for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It was built in 1909 as an automobile testing ground to support the state's growing auto industry, according to the event's website. However, the track was soon used for racing purposes.
Today, it remains the world's largest seating facility, with 250,000 permanent seats. The oval itself, which covers 253 acres, can fit Churchill Downs, Yankee Stadium, the Rose Bowl, the Roman Colosseum and Vatican City, according the site.
Originally constructed with crushed rock and tar, 3.2 million paving bricks were laid on top later in 1909, giving rise to the Brickyard nickname, according to the event's website.
Over the years, the brick has been covered with asphalt - except for a 36-inch strip of the original bricks that have remained intact and uncovered at the start/finish line, known as the "Yard of Bricks."
The winning driver and team of the Indy 500 kneel for a tradition started in 1996 of "kissing the bricks."
Girl power
Katherine Legge isn't the first woman to qualify for the Indy 500 - she's actually the ninth ever - but Legge is making the most of her position.
The rookie driver brings an all-female racing team with her to the Indy, the first ever in the history of the race.
She is also sporting a Girl Scouts logo on her helmet and representing STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) as an ambassador.
This year's 'Batmobile' design
For cars that can race at 224 mph, speed, efficiency and safety measures reign supreme. And given the tragic death of two-time Indy 500 winner Dan Wheldon in a 15-car crash at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway in October, this is the year of safety measures.
Wheldon died when his vehicle became airborne and hit a fence pole. The new design is supposed to prevent cars from becoming airborne. Italian firm Dallara has created the new DW12 chassis, named for Wheldon, who helped test the car before his accident.
Wider cockpits, wheel guards, a smaller engine, vertical wings on the side panels and energy absorption foam have all been added to keep drivers safer on the track, and in the event of an accident.
Sizzling temperatures expected
It's going to be a hot one on Sunday with temperatures expected to reach the low 90s. The humidity could actually be the worst enemy. The event's website has warned spectators to come prepared.
Drinking plenty of water, wearing loose-fitting clothing and wide-brimmed hats or taking shade breaks should help people beat the worst of the heat.
But if all of that still leaves spectators feeling wilted, there are also 78 "misting stations" on the grounds to help cool people down fast.
Nostalgic noshing
Given the heat warning, fans may cut back on some of the track's signature fare, but it won't stop diehards from eating their favorite things.
The Indy Dog, Brickyard Burger, Track fries, bratwurst and elephant ear (fried flat dough with butter, sugar and cinnamon) are all part of the tradition.
But the breaded pork tenderloin sandwich is king at the race. A favorite in the state, it's a bit like schnitzel in a bun.
Are you an Indy 500 fan? Let us know your personal traditions, or how you'll be celebrating in the comments below.
By Steve Kastenbaum, CNN Radio National Correspondent
Listen to CNN Radio's podcast from Steve Kastenbaum about the dangers of texting while walking.
The old joke about a not-so-bright person goes, “He’s so dumb, he can’t walk and chew gum at the same time.”
Very little thought goes into either task. But what happens if you combine walking and texting?
“People aren’t watching where they are walking. They’re texting, they’re on their cell phones, they have their iPods on, and they’re just not aware of their surroundings,” said Thomas Ripoli, the police chief in Fort Lee, New Jersey.
CNN Radio's Steve Kastenbaum reports on the potential dangers of texting
There has been an increase in the number of pedestrians struck by cars in his town this year. Four such incidents ended in death. So Ripoli went on a mission. He told his cops to look out for people who are not paying attention while crossing the street.
“Our focus is to make people aware of their surroundings and to keep their eyes focused on where they’re going,” Ripoli said.
Is texting while walking really dangerous, though? Most of us think we’re capable of doing more than one thing at once. Professor Earl Miller said that may be an illusion.
“We’re not wired to multitask well,” said Miller, a neuroscientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “So when people think they’re multitasking, they’re actually just switching from one task to another very rapidly. And every time they do, there’s a cognitive cost in doing so.”
In the case of texting while walking, Miller says that cost is potentially the loss of life.
“The danger is that you don’t see what’s coming. The same constraints that make it a bad idea to text while you drive make it a bad idea to text while you walk.”
His studies show that the brain has a limited capacity to take in information at any one time.
“It only takes in the world little bits and chunks at a time,” Miller said. You may think that you have a seamless thread of data coming in about the things going on around you, but according to Miller, the reality is your brain “picks and chooses and anticipates what it thinks is going to be important, what you should pay attention to.”
So if you text, or look at an iPad, or even just listen to music in your headphones while walking, your brain does not receive all the information it may need to keep you safe.
Texting while driving laws are becoming commonplace across the country. So far no one has passed a texting while walking law, but that could change. In New York, a state senator wants to ban using cell phones, iPods and other gadgets while crossing the street. A local lawmaker in Arkansas has proposed similar legislation.
As the country heads into the Memorial Day weekend, the traditional kickoff to the summer travel season, there are almost 1.5 million U.S soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines deployed in war zones or combat missions worldwide.
So far, more than 6,400 U.S. servicemen and servicewomen have died in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan - 3,000 in Afghanistan alone - and at least 48,000 more have been wounded.
We encourage you to spend some time looking at our Home and Away feature, where you can discover the individual stories of the fallen.
Do you have a friend or family member in service? Tell in the comments who you are honoring this weekend.
[Updated at 10:07 a.m. ET] According to Chris Tomer, meteorologist and best friend of Mount Everest climber Jon Kedrowski, the climber has successfully reached the summit of Mount Everest.
At 3:30 a.m. in Nepal, Kedrowski's ascent ended well, amidst a "perfect weather window." Tomer posted an entry on the climber's Everest blog to let those following Kedrowski's journey know on the morning of May 26. Saturday marks the official end of the Everest climbing season.
Since beginning his ascent of Mount Everest in April, geographer and professor Jon Kedrowski has celebrated a birthday, used a constant stream of basketball metaphors to fuel his journey and witnessed tragedy that still gives him "demons."
He has also endured an attack from a yak that got out of line on April 13, and continues to carry a little red toy car to the summit, in honor of a young girl, Ryan Marie, who died too soon. The mini car was her favorite.
With help on the ground from his best friend, Denver meteorologist Chris Tomer, Kedrowski has been blogging his ascent.
His live blog, "No Off Days," reveals details both cheerful and chilling, from forming new friendships with fellow adventurers to trying to aid and rescue fallen climbers during Monday's tragedy on the mountain. Four people died due to a combination of bad weather and overcrowding on Everest.
Overheard on CNN.com: Is Mount Everest like 'a morgue'?
The assistant professor in Central Washington University's geography department has climbed countless mountains, and in 2011, he became the first person to camp overnight on the top of Colorado's 55 "Official 14ers," - peaks over 14,000 feet.
But Kedrowski, true to his profession, isn't climbing Everest just for fun. He regards his expedition as having a three-pronged approach.
Kedrowski wants to scale Everest in an eco-friendly manner, work with the Mount Everest Biogas project to test and study water quality from the melting ice, and give back to the Nepalese people through humanitarian initiatives, according to his website.
Because of the high amount of waste left by climbers, concerns over the water and ice quality have increased in recent years.
On April 17, Kedrowski posted on his blog that he and his climbing team had reached the Mount Everest Memorials. He was especially saddened to see Scott Fischer's memorial. The American died in 1996, Everest's worst year to date.
In the days that followed, he described seeing a trail of dried blood down the side of a crevasse, where a Sherpa didn't clip onto the line and lost his life. A constant stream of falling rocks and rough weather also halted his climbing team, and those ascending and descending the Lhotse Face.
"If anything, seeing this further focused my attention. I’ve had many wake-up calls throughout my career in the mountains, and this was no different. You never decide that you want to die up there in the mountains, but you do get to control certain things," he wrote.
At the beginning of May, Kedrowski began to describe the "deadly traffic jam" that others have blamed for the recent Everest tragedies. Slow-moving crews of climbers and even cameramen clogged both routes for those ascending and descending.
He showed an increasing frustration at not being allowed to begin his climbs earlier in the morning to avoid the snarl of traffic and bad weather.
Before May 21's tragedy, Kedrowski described seeing 300 climbers trying to summit, with high winds and brutal weather conditions that made frostbite inevitable. The bad weather only served to trap the surplus of climbers.
Tomer jumped into the blog's narrative when communications from Kedrowski became sparse. He detailed that Kedrowski was still "battling demons" from trying to rescue climbers that "were disoriented, frostbitten, sick and totally exhausted."
Tomer said the tragedy occurred because the jet stream, which Everest pierces because of its elevation, backed itself over the summit, leaving climbers caught in 80 mph winds.
This caused Kedrowski to change his tactics, moving lightly and quickly while skipping two camps in the ascent to the summit, which is rarely ever done, according to Tomer.
Tomer expected a "24-hour weather window" that should allow Kedrowski to summit safely Friday night or Saturday. The winds are forecast to return Sunday.
Kedrowski responded to Tomer's warnings that he expected 100 climbers to attempt to summit at the same time. Many of the others have left after Monday's tragedy and "the sound of helicopter rotor-chop is constant," he said.
Kedrowski remains determined and optimistic about reaching the summit. Because of his background as a basketball coach for kids, the metaphors of progressing from the "sweet 16" to the "elite 8" part of his journey are present in nearly every post.
"I’ve been climbing mountains since I was a kid, and I’ve become only as good as the mountains have let me become," he wrote. "Its [sic] time for the mountain to decide, but I’m gonna give it my all. Every mountain I’ve ever climbed, [...] I’ve always played “Everest” in my head, I’ve always rehearsed what I’d do on each day. Then comes Summit Day. It’s gonna be the greatest game I’ve been able to play."
An American Airlines passenger was restrained Friday after his flight landed in Miami, a spokeswoman for the Miami International Airport said.
Authorities were called to the scene of American Airlines Flight 320, which had departed from Montego Bay, Jamaica, spokeswoman Maria Levrant said.
CNN affiliate WSVN reported that the passenger tried to rush the cockpit, and was restrained by two other passengers before authorities arrived at the scene.
Decades after transporting President Franklin Roosevelt across the Atlantic and fending off kamikazes in the Pacific during World War II, the USS Iowa passed Saturday under the Golden Gate Bridge en route to its final home and duty as a living museum.
Fireboats shot water into the air to salute the battleship around 3 p.m. Saturday, as it was towed through San Francisco Bay and into the Pacific Ocean. Scores of people watched from nearby - some on ferries, others from onshore and on the iconic bridge - under blue skies dotted with puffs of clouds.
The USS Iowa fired nearly 12,000 rounds over its more than 50 years in service for the U.S. Navy before being decommissioned for a third and final time in 1990.
After more than a decade docked in the Port of Richmond near San Francisco, the ship is heading south to the Port of Los Angeles in the care of the Pacific Battleship Center, which plans to transform the ship into a museum by July, according to the nonprofit group's website.
When many Americans kick off the start of summer with burgers and beers for Memorial Day, one former Navy SEAL will be in the final stretch of a 1,700-mile, month-long cross-country journey.
Coleman Ruiz, executive director of Carry The Load, is just one of many veterans making the hike to drive attention and resources to organizations that help surviving military families. They hope it will remind communities of the true meaning of Memorial Day.
In 2011, Clint Bruce, former Navy SEAL, co-founded Carry The Load as a way to honor fallen service members and to remember surviving military families. In its second year, Carry The Load is taking a two-fold approach to fundraising.
Beginning in West Point, New York, communities were invited to participate in the 1,700-mile national relay, which was divided into 5-mile segments. On top of that, the national trek will conclude in Dallas with a nonstop 20-hour, 12-minute walk on Memorial Day.
"It's about putting one foot in front of the other," said Ruiz, who invites individuals from local communities to participate by walking as much or as little as they can. "Walk a mile or walk 50 miles. But just come out and do what every single family across the country who has lost an American service member does. All those families get up every day and put one foot in front of the other. It's the least we can do to show them that we care."
Ruiz knows personally the pain of losing a loved one. In 2007, one of his best friends, Maj. Doug Zembiec, was killed in Baghdad while leading a combat operation.
"There isn't another human being that I've met who can lead men the way Doug could," Ruiz said.
When a 1-year-old Humboldt penguin that escaped from a Tokyo aquarium three months ago dared to set foot on land in Ichikawa on Thursday night, it was captured by hand and finally collared, The Japan Times reported.
An aquarium employee was walking alongside the Edogawa River in Chiba Prefecture at 5:30 p.m. and spotted the fugitive penguin, which escaped in March.
The penguin was seen swimming in the river near the Kanamachi water purification plant in Katsushika Ward earlier in the week. Last week, people also saw it thriving and snacking on small fish in Tokyo Bay. It was assumed that the bird was finding some place to rest onshore at night.
The fugitive bird, known as Penguin 337, somehow scaled a 13-foot wall and got through a barbed-wire fence to get into the bay. Aquarium officials believe it escaped through small gaps that cats and frogs can pass through.
Officials from Tokyo Sea Life Park feared the penguin would not survive in the waters of the bay, busy with marine traffic headed for densely populated Tokyo.
"It didn't look like it has gotten thinner over the past two months, or been without food. It doesn't seem to be any weaker. So it looks as if it's been living quite happily in the middle of Tokyo Bay," Kazuhiro Sakamoto, deputy director of the park, told Reuters.
The penguin was filmed by a Japanese coast guard patrol craft on May 7, but the crew was unable to catch it then.
Penguin 337 is one of 135 penguins at Tokyo Sea Life Park.
The race to the presidency now turns toward the general election in November. CNN.com Live is your home for all the latest news and views from the campaign trail.
Today's programming highlights...
1:00 pm ET - SpaceX Dragon status briefing - The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft has a rendezvous with the international space station today. NASA and SpaceX officials discuss the mission this afternoon.
CNN.com Live is your home for breaking news as it happens.
NASA said it has given the go ahead for the first private spacecraft to proceed toward a rendezvous with the International Space Station on Friday.
The unmanned SpaceX Dragon that launched Tuesday from Cape Canaveral, Florida, has successfully completed all tests so far in preparation for a docking, the space agency said.
"The International Space Station mission management team completed a thorough review of the progress ... and ... unanimously authorized the International Space Station and Dragon flight control teams to proceed toward rendezvous and berthing about 11:20 a.m. ET Friday," the NASA website said.
The Dragon capsule is carrying food, clothing and scientific experiments.
FULL STORYSyrian protesters spilled out into the streets after morning prayers Friday as regime forces shelled various opposition neighborhoods, activists said.
Planned protests were under way in various neighborhoods including the capital Damascus and the provinces of Homs, Hama, Aleppo and Deir Ezzor.
As the protesters gathered, regime forces shelled the Homs neighborhoods of Sultanieh and Jobar, opposition activists said.
Security forces killed at least eight people in Syria on Friday, including seven in Hama province, according to the Local Coordination Committees of Syria.
One more person was killed in Qusair town in Homs province, the group said.
FULL STORYEgypt's Muslim Brotherhood predicted Friday that its presidential candidate Mohamed Morsi will contest a run-off vote with former regime figure Ahmed Shafik, as counting in the country's landmark election got under way.
A statement on the official Facebook page of the Freedom and Justice party, the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, indicated that Morsi had received 30.8% of the votes cast to 22.3% for Shafik.
The Muslim Brotherhood said it had observed the counting of 51% of the vote.
If no candidate gets a majority of the vote in the first round, a second round will be held June 16-17. There were 13 candidates on the ballot, although two withdrew from the race after ballots were printed.
FULL STORYThe new French president, François Hollande, arrived in Kabul on Friday to meet with French troops stationed in the country and hold talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
This visit follows Hollande's announcement at the NATO conference in Chicago that French combat troops would withdraw from Afghanistan by the year end of the year.
As part of the the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, French trainers will remain in the country longer.
NATO countries are trying to figure out how to meet a 2014 deadline to withdraw from an unpopular war in Afghanistan while shoring up that nation's security forces.
FULL STORYBud flexed its muscles as it closed on the southwestern coast of Mexico late Thursday, becoming a major hurricane with winds of 115 mph, the National Hurricane Center said.
The Category 3 storm was about 170 miles (270 km) southwest of Manzanillo and about 230 miles (370 km) south of Cabo Corrientes at 8 p.m. (11 p.m. ET) It was moving north-northeast at a rate of about 10 mph.
"Some fluctuations in strength are possible tonight and Friday morning before gradual weakening begins by Friday afternoon," the hurricane center said. "However, Bud is still expected to reach the coast of Mexico as a hurricane" late Friday.
A hurricane warning has been issued for Manzanillo northwest to Cabo Corrientes, where winds are expected to exceed 39 mph within the next 36 hours and eventually top 74 mph.
FULL STORY
[Updated at 7:19 p.m. ET] Pedro Hernandez, a former Manhattan stock clerk who once lived in the same neighborhood as Etan Patz, was arrested Thursday in the boy's death, more than three decades after the 6-year-old went missing, New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly told reporters.
Kelly told reporters that Hernandez claims he lured Patz from a bus stop to the store where Hernandez worked with the promise of a soft drink, and then led the boy to the store's basement and choked him. Hernandez told investigators that he then put the body in a plastic bag and put it with trash, Kelly said.
Authorities were tipped off to Hernandez by someone who knew him, and whom Hernandez had confided in, a law enforcement source said.
In her book detailing the investigation, author Lisa Cohen describes the plan Etan had the day he went missing. Just prior to his disappearance, according to the book, Patz told his parents that he planned to stop at a store to buy a soda with a dollar that he'd earned by helping a neighborhood carpenter. It's not clear which store he meant.
Patz's disappearance helped spawn a national movement to raise awareness of missing children, which involved a then-novel approach of splashing an image of the child's face across thousands of milk cartons.
[Updated at 6:41 p.m. ET] New York's police commissioner is scheduled to address reporters at 7 p.m. ET about the case of Etan Patz, whose 1979 disappearance raised national awareness of missing children, according to a police statement.
Pedro Hernandez, a former Manhattan store owner, is expected to be the focus of the news conference after he claimed he strangled Patz, who was 6 when he disappeared.
[Updated at 1:26 p.m. ET] A former Manhattan bodega owner named Pedro Hernandez claims he strangled 6-year-old Etan Patz, whose 1979 disappearance raised national awareness of missing children, according to a law enforcement source with knowledge of the investigation.
Police were tipped off to Hernandez by someone who knew him, and whom Hernandez had confided in, the source said.
Earlier Thursday, police in New York said they had a man in custody who implicated himself in Patz's disappearance. A law enforcement source said that the man's claims were being treated with "a healthy dose of skepticism."
[Initial post] Investigators in New York have a man in custody who has implicated himself in the 1979 disappearance of 6-year-old Etan Patz, Commissioner Ray Kelly of the New York Police Department said Thursday.
Authorities plan to divulge more details Thursday, Kelly said in a statement.
Patz's disappearance received national attention and, along with other high-profile cases, helped trigger a national movement that focuses on missing children.
Etan went missing on May 25, 1979, a block from his home in the New York neighborhood of SoHo. It was the first time he had walked to his school bus stop by himself.
FULL STORYThe CNN Daily Mash-up is a roundup of some of the most interesting, surprising, curious, poignant or significant items to appear on CNN.com in the past 24 hours. We top it with a collection of the day's most striking photographs from around the world.
We ask iReporters to share images from around the world as part of our Travel Photo of the Day series. Here are a few we've recently featured:
Sossusvlei, Namibia
A sand dune dramatically rises above the savanna at dawn in this photo by Sandra Hayden.
Chiang Mai, Thailand
This photo by John Vogel shows the colorful, majestic Doi Suthep Temple, which overlooks the city of Chiang Mai.
Seattle, Washington
Biju Chandroth shot this stunning, long-exposure image of downtown Seattle at night.
Luxor, Egypt
The temples, hieroglyphics, and statues of ancient Egypt are just as magnificent as ever in these photos by Jessica Smelser.
Playa del Carmen, Mexico
Get up close and personal with a sea turtle in this gorgeous underwater shot by Matt Swinden.
Middle Cove, Newfoundland
Sobhana Venkatesan shot these lovely photos of bluish icebergs floating off the coast of Newfoundland.
Lisse, Netherlands
The enormous Keukenhof Garden in Holland dazzles visitors with tulips in every color of the rainbow. Nadine Hamad captured the spectrum in these images.
Cocoa Beach, Florida
Holy lightning! Johnathon McCauley shot these dramatic photos from his balcony on Patrick Air Force Base during a thunderstorm.
A minister is organizing a new kind of competition for dogs: bodybuilding. The contest, which includes a sort of canine tractor pull, is a healthy outlet for dogs that might otherwise be used for fighting, the minister tells CNN affiliate WXIN.
Editor's note: This post is part of the Overheard on CNN.com series, a regular feature that examines interesting comments and thought-provoking conversations posted by the community.
Norway's Bastoy Prison seems almost idyllic. Inmates have almost everything they could possibly want on the lush, 1-square-mile island except for their freedom.
CNN.com commenters had mixed reactions to the story. Some agreed that getting inmates ready for life after prison is the most important thing - even if it means giving them jobs and spa-like living conditions. Others said Bastoy fails at a prison's most important job, which they said is punishing and deterring crime.
Welcome to the world's nicest prison
intventor121 "Caging of the offender serves a two fold purpose. 1. Takes away the "liberty" of the offender. 2. Protects the rest of society. I can't think of any other purposes for prison can you?
yellownumb5 "Rehabilitate the offender into a productive member of society rather than pay to house them and release them with no prospects or reform only to offend again.
Some commenters argued that Norway's low crime rate suggests that the system is working
max555544333 "I personally think the approach sounds nuts, but I'm no expert on crime and criminals. You don't really need any expertise to see that the U.S. system doesn't work."
Civildiscors "If you think this isn't harsh enough, or punishment enough, and it's rewarding the criminal, look again. If you value humanity and human beings, you will see that they are worth rehabilitating, treating and being given a chance to prove themselves worthy. If you don't value human life, you will say 'just kill them to save taxpayers money,' as if money is more valuable than people. And if that's your philosophy on life, you are surely doomed."
Scooter111 "Norway has a very low crime rate. Whatever works for them. You are twice as likely to be the victim of a violent crime in our state of Oregon and 4 times more likely in Texas. The goal of any justice system is to keep the non-criminal population safe. So Norway is doing a pretty good job, better than we are."
Others, like Goose66 said that focusing on rehabilitation misses the point:
"It may 'work,' but what about basic fairness. Is it fair to pay to house and feed outlaws in a resort-style environment, where they can fish and eat without working, while law abiding citizens toil away everyday and can't afford to buy food or a cottage of their own? When did fairness go out the window?"
RPTX "I'm sorry. While I'm all for lenient sentences for drugs, white collar crimes, and theft, as a parent I could not fathom someone strangling my daughter and getting a 10-year sentence on some resort island. I don't care how "enlightened" Norway seems to be, that is not fair to victims and their families. Period!"
mathews0723 "Where is the punishment? You stay in a dorm and get to call your parents? Sounds like college to me. I wonder what the murder victims' families think about the way the criminals are being treated. I am not a super vengeful person but I do think they should live without some of the extra perks. Geez."
What do you think? Share your opinion in the comments area below and in the latest stories on CNN.com. You can also use your web cam to record your response on CNN iReport. Just click on the blue button below and record your response.
Compiled by the CNN.com moderation staff. Some comments edited for length or clarity.
A 17-year-old accused of killing three students and injuring others during a shooting at an Ohio high school this year will be tried as an adult, Geauga County Judge Timothy Grendell has ruled.
T.J. Lane is charged with three counts of aggravated murder, two of attempted aggravated murder and one of felonious assault in connection with February shooting at Chardon High School, about 30 miles east of Cleveland.
Authorities said Lane opened fire on students in Chardon High School's cafeteria.
[Updated at 1:19 p.m. ET] A near-normal Atlantic hurricane season is expected this year, with nine to 15 named storms and four to eight hurricanes, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Thursday.
Of those four to eight hurricanes, NOAA expects one to three to be major. The Atlantic's six-month season begins June 1, although it got off to an early start this year, with Tropical Storm Alberto moving through the Atlantic off the U.S. East Coast last week.
NOAA also said it predicts a near-normal season for the Eastern Pacific, estimating a 70% chance of 12 to 18 named storms – with five to nine hurricanes, of which two to five would be major – for that area. The Eastern Pacific's season is May 15 to November 30.
A major hurricane, designated as Category 3 or greater, has winds of well above 100 mph. The weakest hurricanes have top sustained winds of at least 74 mph, and named storms have top winds of at least 39 mph.
NOAA officials said uncertainty over whether the El Nino weather pattern will form made it difficult to be more precise in predicting the Atlantic storm season.
"If (El Nino) develops by late summer to early fall ... conditions could be less conducive for hurricane formation and intensification during the peak months (August to October) of the season, possibly shifting the activity toward the lower end of the predicted range,” said Gerry Bell, lead seasonal hurricane forecaster at NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center.
The forecasts do not predict how many of the storms will reach land.
Thursday's predictions came as a strengthening Hurricane Bud, churning in the Pacific, appeared poised to bring heavy rain to coastal southwestern Mexico.
It is extremely rare for an Eastern Pacific hurricane to affect the U.S. mainland, though some do have an influence on Hawaii.
Tropical Storm Alberto broke up in the Atlantic this week and another tropical depression was causing heavy rainfall in southern Florida, Bell said. However, he said the early storms were no harbinger of a more active season than normal.
For the Atlantic, a normal season would produce 12 named storms, including six hurricanes and three major hurricanes. Last year saw 19 named storms in the Atlantic.
The Eastern Pacific's average season produces 15 named storms, with eight hurricanes and four major hurricanes, according to NOAA.
FEMA's hurricane preparedness tips
Could you survive an extreme weather disaster?
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