British Scientists Declare Independence from Americans

For the first time, this summer British scientists are trotting out their own estimates about the Atlantic tropical storm season, to rival the perennially quasi-apocalyptic (and often-wrong) antics from their American cousins. Wouldn't you know it? The Brits are a bit more calm about these matters.

They predict between 7 and 13 tropical storms, whereas the U.S. ups the ante to somewhere between 13 and 17. The Brits steer clear of all-out hurricane predictions, but, if you're curious, the Americans guess around seven to ten hurricanes, with about half of them being strong. 

So we won't run out of acts of courageous guidance from America's weathermen or totally-necessary-and-not-at-all-for-ratings reports by American journalists being battered on beach boardwalks.