Study: Global Warming Increasing Duration and Intensity of Hurricanes

New research from MIT now seems to suggest there is real data and facts to back up what many have been suspecting all along. Global warming could very well be responsible for the dramatic and early start to this year’s recent hurricane season.

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Jul 31, 2005 — Is global warming making hurricanes more ferocious? New research suggests the answer is yes. Scientists call the findings both surprising and "alarming" because they suggest global warming is influencing storms now rather than in the distant future.

However, the research doesn't suggest global warming is generating more hurricanes and typhoons.

The analysis by climatologist Kerry Emanuel of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology shows for the first time that major storms spinning in both the Atlantic and the Pacific since the 1970s have increased in duration and intensity by about 50 percent.

50%

A quote that stands out from the article:

"When I look at these results at face value, they are rather alarming," said research meteorologist Tom Knutson. "These are very big changes."

These "changes" as a potential result of global warming seem to be happening much faster, and show so far to be more dramatic than even some of the best experts had been expecting.