Global Warming Makes Storms Worse: Study

Global warming is causing intensifying hurricanes around the world, a new study shows. Scientists analyzed 2,000 “tropical cyclones” occurring from 1980 to 2006 and found that the “strongest storms are getting stronger, especially over the Atlantic and Indian Oceans,” USA Today reports. Warmer water “has more energy that can be converted to tropical cyclone wind,” explains one of the researchers.

However, some scientists question the study’s findings. The uptick in storm strength found by the study did not appear in the South Pacific, nor did weaker hurricanes seem to strengthen. A scientist from the National Hurricane Center claims that the study authors relied on a “flawed” set of data, missing some evidence from the Indian Ocean and from before 1980. (More hurricane stories.)