NASA GOES Project(WASHINGTON) -- Get ready for an “extremely active” active Atlantic hurricane season, government forecasters said Thursday.

Between now and the end of the Atlantic hurricane season (Nov. 30) the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration predicts 13 to 20 named storms, of which seven to 11 could become hurricanes. Three to six of those hurricanes could be major, with winds 111 mph or greater.

Three climate factors are coming together to produce an “active” or “extremely active” hurricane season, NOAA forecasters said Thursday. Ongoing climate patterns off the coast of Africa have spawned a period of high hurricane activity since 1995. Water temperatures are warmer than average in the Atlantic and the Caribbean. El Niño conditions in the Pacific Ocean are absent this season; those tend to keep hurricanes from forming.

The 2013 prediction follows an especially active 2012 Atlantic season, which produced 19 named storms. (The average is 12, according to NOAA.) Of those storms, 10 became hurricanes and two became “major” hurricanes packing wind speeds 111 miles an hour or greater. Two tropical storms fired up in May, even before the official start of the 2012 season: Alberto and Beryl. The deadliest 2012 storm by far was Sandy, which killed at least 147 people as it raked its way across the Caribbean to the Eastern Seaboard.

In the U.S., Sandy caused approximately $50 billion in damage.

On Monday, NOAA predicted a below-normal hurricane season for the Central Pacific Basin.

National Hurricane Preparedness Week is May 26 through June 1.

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ABC News(PHOENIX) -- The jury in the Jodi Arias murder trial began its third day of deliberations Thursday on whether to sentence Arias to death, raising the possibility that prosecutors may retry the penalty phase of the case if the jury is deadlocked.

Under state law in a capital case if the jury can't reach a unanimous decision, the Maricopa County, Ariz., District Attorney's office will have to weigh whether to spend time and resources to find a new jury, schedule new court dates, and re-present its evidence to try and reach a death sentence, which could take months, according to Jerry Cobb, spokesperson for the prosecutor's office.

Arias, 32, was convicted of first-degree murder for killing her ex-boyfriend, Travis Alexander, in a gruesome attack in 2008.

Prosecutor Juan Martinez has argued that because the murder was especially cruel, involving 27 stab wounds, a slit throat, and a gunshot wound to Alexander's head, Arias deserves the death penalty.

But the jury has not yet returned a verdict on whether they agree.

On Wednesday, the jury stopped deliberations and sent Judge Sherry Stephens a note about their indecision. She responded by sending them back to the jury room to continue deliberating, with instructions on how to ask questions of her or attorneys if they felt they could not come to an agreement.

If the jury cannot agree, a hung jury will be declared. Martinez and the Maricopa County Prosecutor Office will then decide whether to find a new jury and present the death penalty phase of the trial to them, Cobb said.

If they decide not to redo the death penalty phase, Arias will be sentenced to life in prison, either with or without the possibility of parole, depending on Stephens' ruling.

The current jury has sat through nearly five months of testimony in the case.

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Lui Kit Wong-Pool/Getty Images(WEST VALLEY, Utah) -- A newly released, eerie home video made by Susan Powell, the Utah mother who disappeared in 2009 under mysterious circumstances, shows her recording her family's belongings just in case something ever happened.

"This is me July 29th, 2008," Powell says in the video. "[I am] covering all my bases, making sure that if something happens to me or my family, or all of us, that our assets are documented."

Powell also discusses the destruction of some of her possessions.

"And I had necklaces too, wherever those are [inaudible] got in a rage, as you can see, and broke this, there's studs and pearls and opals in there, broke those and threw all my DVDs and made a mess because he was angry at me about a year or two back," she said in the video.

The seemingly happy mother turned fearful wife ends her video on an optimistic note.

"Hope everything works out and we're all happy and live happily ever after as much as that's possible," she said, rolling her eyes.

Powell also left a hand-written will in a safety deposit box. In the will she wrote that the document wasn't to be seen by her husband.

"If I die, it may not be an accident, even if it looks like one," she wrote.

This video, will and a mountain of personal notes and other evidence -- the sum of an entire life -- have been reduced to a tiny thumb drive handed out by police on Monday.

Investigators have now declared that the mystifying case of what happened to Susan Powell is officially closed.

"No stone has been left unturned," Mike Powell of the West Valley Deputy Chief said this week.

From Susan's 2009 disappearance, to repeated searches, to the horrific murder suicide of her husband and two children, police have never wavered from the belief that Josh Powell was involved, even if they could never prove it in a court of law.

Powell, 28, was last seen in December 2009 at the Utah home she shared with her husband and their two young sons. Josh Powell told authorities that he had decided take an impromptu midnight camping trip with the boys -- in the midst of a winter storm -- the night his wife vanished. Powell says that he returned home to find his wife gone and has claimed that his wife left on her own. Josh Powell was named a "person of interest" in the investigation into his wife's disappearance, but was never charged.

On Feb. 5, 2012, during a supervised visit with his boys, Josh Powell locked a Child Protective Services worker out of the house he was then renting, attacked the boys with a hatchet and set off an explosion that killed himself and his two sons.

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Benjamin Krain/Getty Images(MOORE, Okla.) -- Cellphone video recorded by an Oklahoma teacher at Briarwood Elementary School shows the exact moment an E-F5 tornado tore through the building as she attempted to calm students' fears by telling them, "It's almost over."

Robin Dziedzic, a fifth-grade teacher at the school, huddled with students in a darkened bathroom Monday afternoon as the monstrous twister tore through Moore, Okla.

"This is where we walked down and I was right here," Dziedzic said, pointing to the bathroom. "There were about 25 girls and several teachers."

Students held on to each other as the devastating tornado ripped the roof from the building and brought down walls.

"Oh, my God, I hate this. I hate this," a student says.

"It's almost over. It's almost over. Oh, my God," Dziedzic can be heard saying to the student.

After the tornado passed, teachers and students emerged to survey the devastation and see what was left of their school a few days before their summer vacation was set to begin.

The teachers and students at Briarwood were considered fortunate compared to Plaza Towers Elementary School, where seven children were killed, according to the medical examiner's office. The cause of death for six of the seven children was "asphyxia" after being smothered by falling debris, the medical examiner's office said Wednesday in a report.

One of those children from Plaza Towers Elementary School was 9-year-old Antonia Candelaria, who will be the first victim laid to rest Thursday.

Authorities also released the names of 23 of the 24 people confirmed dead, ranging in age from 4 months to 65.

Gov. Mary Fallin's office said Wednesday evening that everyone has been accounted for and a total of 353 people sustained injures from the twister.

In the small town of Moore, where few people were sparred grief, the stories of survival are endless. While some hunkered down in a school bathroom or in a bank vault, others took shelter in their homes.

Sarah and Shane Patterson saved and struggled to buy their home in Moore three years ago, which was taken away in seconds by winds estimated at more than 200 mph. As Sarah Patterson toured the devastation, she found the shoes she was wearing when the tornado hit.

"It took them off my feet. The suction in the house pulled them off my feet," she said.

A few mementos of her childhood were left behind such as doll.

"It's a doll my great-grandmother made me when I was a baby," she said. "My mom would be happy to know it's here."

Along with the doll, Patterson was able to salvage a few pictures of her sons -- 9-year-old Lucas and 7-year-old Noah -- who huddled underneath a mattress in the home and prayed as the twister roared through.

"I was praying as hard as I could. And my boys, I said, 'Pray, guys. Just pray,'" Patterson said. "I don't know how we made it."

The Pattersons say they will rebuild in Moore, but with one major addition, a safe room.

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iStockphoto/Thinkstock(CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga.) -- Becoming the valedictorian of your high school is a difficult and impressive feat in itself, but it's even more impressive for a Georgia teen who did so while her family was homeless.

Chelesa Fearce has a GPA of 4.466 and scored 1900 on her SATs, even though she and her family were without a home for most of her high school years. Sometimes they lived in shelters or inside her mother’s car. Fearce says it was tough at times.

“You'd be worried about your home life and then worried at school,” she said. “Worried about being a little bit hungry sometimes, go hungry sometimes.”

Still, she persevered. “I just had to open my book in the dark and just use a cell phone light. Just do what I had to do,” she said.  

Fearce is graduating with top honors at her school in Clayton County, Ga. She will be attending Spelman College in the fall, but already has enough credits that she’ll be a college junior.

Her message?

“Don't give up,” she said. “Do what you have to do right now so that you'll have the future that you want.”

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Chris Maddaloni/CQ Roll Call(WASHINGTON) -- Attorney General Eric Holder has disclosed in a letter to Congress that four Americans were killed by U.S. drones in the course of the government's attacks on terrorists.

"Since 2009, the United States, in the conduct of U.S. counterterrorism operations against al Qaida and its associated forces outside of areas of active hostilities, has specifically targeted and killed one U.S. citizen, Anwar al-Aulaqi," Holder wrote.

"The United States is further aware of three other U.S. citizens who have been killed in such U.S. counterterrorism operations over that same time period: Samir Khan, 'Abd al-Rahman Anwar al-Aulaki and Jude Mohammed. These individuals were not specifically targeted by the United States," Holder wrote.

Holder sent the letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., as well as to leaders of both parties in both houses of Congress, and the chairmen and ranking members of intelligence, foreign affairs and armed services committees. In the letter, Holder detailed U.S. policy on drone strikes against Americans.

The names of the Americans killed by drones had previously been classified information.

Samir Kahn was the publisher of Inspire magazine, which Anwar al-Awlaki edited. Abdul Rahman al Awlaki was Awlaki's son. Both were thought to be killed in the same drone attack as Awlaki.

Jude Kenan Mohammed was on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted List and was believed to be plotting a car bombing on the 10th anniversary of 9/11.

The decision to target Anwar al-Awlaki was "subjected to an exceptionally rigorous interagency review" and approved by Holder and other Justice Department lawyers, Holder wrote.

Holder's letter, released in advance of a speech by the president, represents the administration's most specific statement of policy on drone strikes against Americans.

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Craig F. Walker/The Denver Post(DENVER) -- Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper has indefinitely delayed the execution of convicted killer Nathan Dunlap, saying that he had doubts about the death penalty, much to the dismay of victims' families and a furious district attorney.

The killing of four employees in a Chuck E. Cheese's in 1993 was a massacre that scarred the people of Aurora, Colo., long before shooter James Holmes opened fire in a crowded movie theater on July 20, 2012. Holmes killed 12 and wounded dozens more.

Dunlap, 38, is one of three men on the state's death row. He was sentenced to death in 1996, but the victims' families say they have been waiting for justice to be carried out for nearly 20 years.

The governor granted a reprieve to Dunlap, which means that he will not be executed as long as Hickenlooper is in office. The reprieve stays in effect until Hickenlooper or the next governor lifts it.

Hickenlooper also could have granted clemency, which would have changed Dunlap's sentence to life without parole.

Dunlap had been scheduled to be executed in August. It would have been the state's first execution since 1997.

"If the state of Colorado is going to undertake the responsibility of executing a human being, the system must operate flawlessly," Hickenlooper wrote in his executive order. "Colorado's system for capital punishment is not flawless."

Hickenlooper cited a number of reasons for his decision, including a lack of statistical evidence that the death penalty deters crime, moral arguments and the state's not being equipped with the drugs needed for execution.

"There's going to be one person in this system who will go to bed with a smile on his face tonight, and that's Nathan Dunlap," Arapahoe County District Attorney George Brauchler told reporters on the steps of the Colorado state capitol. "And he's got one person to thank for that smile, and that's Governor John Hickenlooper."

"He's made himself Nathan Dunlap's guardian angel," an aggravated Brauchler said.

The district attorney emphasized that a jury had found Dunlap guilty and sentenced him.

"To be 20 years and 20 miles removed from one of the most heinous acts of violence in the history of this state and hear, 'Just not sure,' does not feel like an act of courage," Brauchler said. "It is certainly not leadership."

Hickenlooper recently met with families of victims.

"The majority of the families really did feel that they would get closure from an execution. There were some that expressed gratitude and even some form of relief, [but] I think the majority were disappointed," Hickenlooper said at a news conference.

One of the families he met with was that of 19-year-old Sylvia Crowell, who was killed during the Dec. 14, 1993, shooting. Sylvia was closing the salad bar at closing time when Dunlap, also 19 at the time, came up behind her and shot her in the head. He had recently been fired from the restaurant.

Sylvia's parents, Bob and Marjorie Crowell, who live in Aurora, say they have been waiting 20 years for justice.

A "very disappointed" Bob Crowell said that he doesn't think there will ever totally be closure in the case, but he believed that the execution could have demonstrated to other criminals that "they will pay the price with their lives if they perform an act like that in the state of Colorado."

"This whole scenario of having to make us wait...it's like having a knife stuck in your back every time somebody says or does something," Crowell told ABC News. "Today was the trump of all of that when the governor refused to carry out the execution, or refused to let it happen."

Dunlap went on to kill Ben Grant, 17, as he cleaned nearby and Colleen O'Connor, 17, who was cleaning the rowdy restaurant's quiet room for adults when Dunlap approached her. She begged for her life, but he showed no mercy. Dunlap also killed the restaurant's 50-year-old manager, Margaret Kohlberg.

He also shot Bobby Stephens in the jaw. Stephens, 20 at the time, was the sole survivor.

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Photodisc/Thinkstock(KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa.) -- The King of Prussia Mall in Pennsylvania kicked out three sisters last Sunday for wearing matching hats with a message:  F*** Cancer. Over one of the letters was a strategically placed pink breast cancer ribbon.

The ladies, who spoke to the ABC News affiliate WPVI, said they were honoring their mother, who died last Tuesday of breast cancer and had battled the disease for four years.

“The logo, the saying, is the only expression that I feel is strong enough to defeat the word, defeat the disease,” Zakia Clark told WPVI.

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The sisters were shopping for funeral dresses when a security guard approached them and asked them to leave.

“I said, ‘I’m not leaving. I spend money here and I’m not going to leave,’” Zakia told WPVI.

“He said, ‘You know what? Shut your mouth. That was your cue to stop shopping.’ So I removed my hat,” she said.

The incident was caught on camera and the women were kicked out.

The King of Prussia Mall told ABC News in a statement they were sorry for the misunderstanding.

“King of Prussia Mall extends [its] sincere condolences to Zakia Clark, her sisters and other family members. Sunday’s situation was a very unfortunate misunderstanding between our mall security personnel who are responsible for upholding the safety and integrity of the mall’s public spaces and this family at their time of loss. We have spoken with Zakia and believe we have resolved this misunderstanding as she graciously accepted our expression of sorrow for their loss and regret for the situation.”

When questioned on why the women were singled out for their attire, when stores inside the mall such as Urban Outfitters sell shirts that have the same expletives and are not censored, a mall spokesperson told ABC News that they “work with our retailers to avoid having any controversial material from being displayed directly in store front windows to help provide a pleasant and family-friendly shopping environment for our customers.”

The sisters told WPVI that their mother’s funeral was set for Wednesday.

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