I thought this was one of the guys who are on our side! Isn't he? I believe he's very anti-global warming. Gotta go check..........
Not so fast...
Not really. This professor simply will not sign onto the idea that global warming is causing more and bigger hurricanes. He says there is no research to indicate such a relationship and the envirowackos wanted his head on a platter for not towing the party line. In reality, the professor is right, there is no evidence of a global warming-hurricane activity link. Common sense says that since hurricanes get their energy from warm ocean surface waters that the warmer the water, the stronger and more common the storms will be. That is a fallacy because there are many factors that determine the size and number of storms. If not all the criteria are met, you have a year like this one where upper level shear prevented storm formation. Since the effect of global warming is unknown on upper level shear, it may creat more shear and inhibit more storms. So it is possible that global warming could reduce the number of storms. But that is just speculation because there is no research data to indicate one way or the other.