The US is forecast to take a battering from a more active than average hurricane season next year, with least 14 storms forming and more systems coming ashore, a reliable London-based forecaster says.

Tropical Storm Risk (TSR) – part of the Benfield Hazard Research Centre – says that despite a fairly inactive 2006 hurricane season, the Atlantic basin is in an active hurricane cycle, and that may last as long as two decades before entering a calmer period.

TSR predicts 14 tropical storms will form in the Atlantic basin next year, including seven hurricanes, three of which will strengthen to Category 3 storms.

The research indicates a 64% chance of a major storm striking the US, compared with the 50-year average of 52%. The eastern seaboard and the Gulf of Mexico have a 40% chance of being hit.

Meanwhile, Munich Re expects reinsurance prices for US hurricane and natural catastrophe business to rise about 30% for new contracts in January.