hurricane (Page 13)

and why Gustav wasn’t as bad as Katrina – The theory that global warming may be contributing to stronger hurricanes in the Atlantic over the past 30 years is bolstered by a new study.

Using global satellite data, researchers James B. Elsner, James P. Kossin and Thomas H. Jagger found that the strongest tropical cyclones are, in fact, getting stronger?and that ocean temperatures play a role in driving this trend. Elsner says, “As seas warm, the ocean has more energy that can be converted to tropical cyclone wind.”
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?but that ones that DO occur will be more powerful – A surprising study shows that in the future, when the world is warmer, there will be fewer hurricanes like the terrible cyclone that devastated Myanmar?NOT more. This is because earth is heating up with such unexpected speed that the heat is reaching the stratosphere far faster than expected.

This means that there will be less of a temperature difference between the lower and upper atmosphere, and it is this difference that creates storms. Unfortunately, it is also what drives the jet streams, which will become sluggish and then stop if the heating continues. Without jet streams to clear the air, many large cities will quickly become unlivable.
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Hurricane season is returning soon, and researchers at the University of Colorado have predicted that there will be four major hurricanes this season. The predictions do not suggest where they might make landfall, but it is expected to be an intense season because of the effect of Pacific cooling caused by the active La Nina formation in the central Pacific, and unusually warm waters in the south Atlantic.

When La Nina conditions exist in the Pacific and the south Atlantic is warm, as it is now, Atlantic hurricanes can be especially strong. The record for hurricane formation is 2005, when 28 tropical storms and hurricanes formed in the Atlantic. Last year, there were 14 tropical storms, six of which became hurricanes.
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