Dave_Osterberg's Blog

This was a study that was published this past Sunday in nature Geoscience, states that fewer but more intense hurricanes may form as a result f global warming. How you ask? Well we all know that global warming could result in an increase in sea surafce temperatures. In theory that should mean more fuel for storms. But it also seems that warming up the oceans also leads to an increase in wind shear. Wind shear is a difference in wind speeds at varying altitudes. This is a killer for storms. Typically in an El nino year we have fewer storms based on this principle. The one thing this study does indicate is that overall storms that do form would have more rainfall. There are many parameters which still need to be measured, but long range climatic models are predicting these changes. It is also important to note that this does not apply to other ocean basins, just the Atlantic.