Sunspots may be affecting hurricane intensity, study says

Darkfrog submitted, created time 3 months 1 week (www.nature.com)

While recent data have suggested that the Earth's warming climate has altered the intensity balance of storms to favor more intense and dangerous hurricanes, there may be an additional factor at work: The solar cycle.

A team at Florida State University has examined storm data going back a century. There appears to be a twelve-year storm cycle that corresponds with the rise and fall of magnetic activity on the sun.

This suggestion--which attributes some of our changing climate to non-manmade activities--has not gone unchallenged

Submit comment | Blog It | Email It | Keywords: global warming climate change ecology meterology sunspots solar cycle hurricanes storms storm intensity politics global climate change

Hurricane Ike Victims Return; Turned Away

sea-maid submitted, created time 3 months 1 week (www.time.com)

Residents of Galveston, Texas launched an ill-advised attempt to return to their crippled hometown Wednesday, but instead fumed in hours of gridlocked traffic only to be turned away at the bridge leading to their island. The confusion results in part form the fact that city governors had announced a "look and leave" plan permitting residents to return. However, this plan was rescinded only hours later--when many Galvestonians were already on the road.

Submit comment | Blog It | Email It | Keywords: global warming global climate change climate change storms hurricanes

Scientists: More Hurricanes to Come

sea-maid submitted, created time 4 months 3 days (www.time.com)

The tropics seem to be going crazy what with the remnants of Gustav, the new threat from Hanna, a strengthening Ike and newcomer Josephine. Get used to it.

Submit comment | Blog It | Email It | Keywords: global climate change. global warming meteorology climate change climate weather storms hurricanes

Climate change means more than mild winters: storms wreak extra havoc

Darkfrog submitted, created time 4 months 4 days (www.nature.com)

According to Nature, the maximum speeds of hurricanes and other intense storms have increased since 1981.

While atmospheric models have long suggested that an overall increase in planetary temperature will also increase the intensity of storms, it has also been argued that other results of increasing temperature, such as increased shearing winds, would cancel out or interfere with these other effects.

Climatologists at the University of Florida, however, have found that recent storms have been able to overcome the effects of shearing winds

4 comments | Blog It | Email It | Keywords: storms meteorology climate change ecology climatology global warming global climate change hurricanes weather climate