Are Hurricanes Getting Stronger?
Hurricane intensity has turned out to be a more controversial issue at this time. Very recent studies have found a large increase in global hurricane intensity during the last century. These studies (done by renowned scientists) have been under severe attack by other (also renowned) scientists in the field. The main issue is that the data used to calculate trends in hurricane intensity are not considered to be reliable enough to make definitive conclusions. The methods used to monitor hurricanes during the past century have become more sophisticated as the years have gone by, and the measurements from certain periods are somewhat suspect in terms of accuracy. That said, the observed intensity increase is so large that it is unlikely that all of it can be attributed to problems with the data. At the least, these findings should be considered as preliminary evidence that hurricane intensity increased during the past century. What about the future? All experts agree that increasing sea su
