Climate Central. Increase in Hurricane Numbers Due to Better Detection, Not Climate Change, Study Says - Climate Central. The recent forecast for an above average 2011 Atlantic hurricane season comes at an anxious time for many Americans, already storm-weary from a year in which several record tornadoes, droughts, wildfires, and floods have already caused billions in damage.
The possibility that global warming may be leading to more and stronger hurricanes has been a hot research topic during the past several years, ever since the devastating Atlantic hurricane seasons of 2004 and 2005. Yet while dozens of research groups are trying to better understand how climate change is influencing Atlantic tropical storms, it’s been difficult for them to pinpoint how hurricane frequency and intensity have been changing during the last century, as average ocean and air temperatures have risen. However, this does not mean that climate change is off the hook when it comes to influencing Atlantic hurricanes.
How is that in the 1940s we all of a sudden got much better at detecting hurricanes? Watch 131 Years of Global Warming in 26 Seconds.