Earth Equity News

With Warming, Strongest Storms Will Keep Getting Stronger, New Study Says. By Kenneth Chang, NYTimes, September 3, 2008. "A new study finds that the strongest of hurricanes and typhoons have become even stronger over the last two and a half decades, adding grist to the... debate over... global [warming's relationship to storm intensity]. 'I think we do see a climate signal here,' said James B. Elsner [of] Florida State... lead author of the paper... published in [today's] journal Nature... Having examined satellite data from 1981 through 2006, a period in which sea surface temperature rose to 83.3 degrees F from 82.8 degrees, they concluded that the highest wind speeds of the strongest storms averaged 156 mph in 2006, up from 140 mph in 1981 [with cyclone intensity increases] greatest in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans... The study, which also found that more typical, less powerful tropical storms had not become stronger over the 26-year period studied, is consistent with other researchers' hurricane models... With oceans expected to continue warming, 'one would expect more 4s and 5s,' [Elsner] said of Category 4 and Category 5 hurricanes, those with maximum sustained winds of at least 131 miles per hour."