EVER since Hurricane Katrina and Al Gore’s movie ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ there has been a fear that every year will bring more destructive cyclones because of global warming.
The 2008 hurricane season for the Atlantic officially ended on November 30 and Phillip Klotzbach and William Gray have already published their 50 plus-page report on the season.
They explain that it was an active and destructive season with an early start followed by five major hurricanes.
They conclude that the Atlantic has seen a very large increase in major hurricanes during the last 14-year period as a result of the multi-decadal increase in the Atlantic Ocean thermohaline circulation and that this is not directly related to increasing levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide or global sea surface temperatures.
*********************************
Summary of 2008 Atlantic Tropical Cyclone Activity and Verification of Author’s Seasonal and Monthly Forecasts. Phillip J. Klotzbach and William M. Gray, Department of Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University, November 2008. http://tropical.atmos.colostate.edu/Forecasts/2008/nov2008/nov2008.pdf
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD has worked in industry and government. She is currently researching a novel technique for long-range weather forecasting funded by the B. Macfie Family Foundation.