2010 ATLANTIC HURRICANE SEASON LATEST BETTING ODDS

With the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico raising the stakes for this year's hurricane season, we're naturally seeing some betting markets emerging for those looking to have a punt on just how well North America will fare during this year's hurricane season. 

Popular Irish bookmaker Paddy Power has recently revealed their slate of markets for 2010 Hurricane Season Betting. We've already seen the appearance of the first one, Hurricane Alex, and we'll need to keep that in mind as we check out our almanacs as the season is expected to last well into the fall. 
In regards to the total number of hurricanes, we are favoured for ten or more named storms and I think that's an excellent bet at 2/1. Sure it may not be the value play, but we've been seeing a trend towards more named storms every year and I think that people will be paying even more attention to it throughout the dog days of summer. Nine exact storms pays out at 10/3 while eight pays out at 10/3. Seven named storms exactly pays out at 4/1 with six named storms at an appropriate 6/1 price. 
We are heavily-favoured to have at least one intense storm this year with a name retirement (something they only do after a powerful hurricane that becomes a household name) priced at a slim 1/4 listing. No retired names this hurricane season pays out at 5/2. 
The odds of a 2010 Season hurricane being listed as stronger than hurricane Wilma is priced at 5/1 while we've got 10/1 odds on the 2010 Season to have the most hurricanes ever. The 2010 season to have the most storms (but not named hurricanes) pays out at a 12/1 price. 
We are odds-on for a category 5 storm this year and you'll find that priced at 2/5. A category 4 pays out at 15/8 while a cat 3 pays 8/1. No storms stronger than category 2 pays out at a lengthy 12/1. 
At the time of this writing, Hurricane Hermine is the slim favourite to be named the strongest hurricane. It's priced at 8/1 while Hurricane Gaston is at 9/1 alongside Hurricane Igor. Hurricanes Julia, Karl and Fiona are all priced at 10/1.