WASHINGTON — Global warming isn’t to blame for the recent jump in hurricanes in the Atlantic, concludes a study by a prominent federal scientist.
Not only that, warmer temperatures will actually reduce the number of hurricanes in the Atlantic and those making landfall, research meteorologist Tom Knutson reported in a study published online Sunday in Nature Geoscience.
Knutson has raised concerns about the effects of climate change on storms. His new paper could heat up a simmering debate among meteorologists about current and future effects of global warming in the Atlantic.
Ever since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, hurricanes have often been seen as a symbol of global warming’s wrath.
It’s not all good news from Knutson’s study. His computer model forecasts that hurricanes and tropical storms will be wetter and fiercer.
