Hurricanes

In 2004, a record number of hurricanes affected Florida and typhoons struck Japan. A hurricane even formed in the South Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Brazil, where no one had ever seen one before. The 2005 Atlantic hurricane season has been the busiest on record. There were 26 storms with 13 of them becoming hurricanes. An MIT study published recently in the journal Nature provides the first data analysis indicating that the number of the most severe storms has almost doubled over the past 35 years. Warmer oceans and more moisture in the atmosphere suggest that global warming will further increase hurricane intensity and rainfall in the future.