At 05:32 AM Wednesday 8/31/2005, Robert G. Seeberger wrote:
http://www.terradaily.com/news/hurricane-05zd.html
For all its numbing ferocity, Hurricane Katrina will not be a unique
event, say scientists, who say that global warming appears to be
pumping up the power of big Atlantic storms.
2005 is on track to be the worst-ever year for hurricanes, according
to experts measuring ocean temperatures and trade winds -- the two big
factors that breed these storms in the Caribbean and tropical North
Atlantic.
Earlier this month, Tropical Storm Risk, a London-based consortium of
experts, predicted that the region would see 22 tropical storms during
the six-month June-November season, the most ever recorded and more
than twice the average annual tally since records began in 1851.
Seven of these storms would strike the United States, of which three
would be hurricanes, it said.>
Already, 2004 and 2003 were exceptional years: they marked the highest
two-year totals ever recorded for overall hurricane activity in the
North Atlantic.
This increase has also coincided with a big rise in Earth's surface
temperature in recent years, driven by greenhouse gases that cause the
Sun's heat to be stored in the sea, land and air rather than radiate
back out to space.
OTOH:
Storms Vary With Cycles, Experts Say
By KENNETH CHANG
Published: August 30, 2005
Because hurricanes form over warm ocean water, it is easy to assume that
the recent rise in their number and ferocity is because of global warming.
But that is not the case, scientists say. Instead, the severity of
hurricane seasons changes with cycles of temperatures of several decades in
the Atlantic Ocean. The recent onslaught "is very much natural," said
William M. Gray, a professor of atmospheric science at Colorado State
University who issues forecasts for the hurricane season.
Full text at
<<http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/30/national/30cycle.html>>. (You may not
have to register, as it was in yesterday's paper.)
Don't You Wish Those Blasted Scientists Would Just Make Up Their Minds Maru
-- Ronn! :)
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