Study: As Oceans Warm, Cyclones Gain Strength

Tropical cyclones have been getting stronger over the past several decades, according to a new report in the journal Nature. This finding supports a theory that storms will get stronger as the surface of the ocean heats up because of global warming.

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Posted in * Culture-Watch, * Economics, Politics, Climate Change, Weather, Energy, Natural Resources

8 comments on “Study: As Oceans Warm, Cyclones Gain Strength

  1. SawDid says:

    You do know that many people believe that man-made global warming is nothing more than a fashionable myth.

  2. Creedal Episcopalian says:

    No, many people believe that anthrogenic global warming is a [b]politically convenient[/b] myth.

  3. Tamsf says:

    So why have the last two hurricane seasons been so quiet? Just by random chance we’re due for an active season. But like true religious fanatics, they’re going to insist that any damage we suffer this year is due to our sins (carbon sins of course).

  4. flaanglican says:

    Study: As water freezes, it turns to ice.

  5. C. Wingate says:

    The TIME Magazine version: storms aren’t getting worse; we just keeping building more stuff where the storms hit.

  6. Sherri says:

    C. Wingate, I think Time has got it wrong. Go to wunderground.com and check out their hurricane archives. Look at the 50s and 60s – fewer hurricanes, far fewer that hit the U.S. They are costlier when they hit, unquestionably, but more of them appear to be making landfall in the U.S. than in years past. How many major blows has Florida had in the last four years?

  7. C. Wingate says:

    Sherri, the thing is that there seems to be a cyclical pattern to hurricane seasons– or rather, several cycles which interact. The storm season in the forties and fifties were bad; those in the seventies and early eighties were weak. If you read the huge global warming report, you will eventually find an admission that they don’t really know how or even whether warming interacts with the details of weather. Some studies claim SSTs are making more and stronger storms; others say that’s not the case. It appears to be a matter of genuine scientific dispute.

  8. libraryjim says:

    We have a double prize winner:

    Give the closed mind award of the year AND the broken record sound-alike award to Hopper, please.