Global Warming May Be Homing In on Atlantic Hurricanes

Abstract

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The idea that increased hurricane activity might be connected to global warming first blew in with Katrina and her cohorts of the horrendous 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. Then two studies reported a striking increase in the number of intense storms around the world. And that increase was suspiciously in step with the warming of tropical waters whose heat fuels tropical cyclones (also called hurricanes or typhoons). But skeptics wondered: Should anyone trust the patchwork records of tropical cyclones compiled over the past century? And couldn’t the surge in storms be part of a natural cycle?