Warm Storms Ahead?

Global warming and the increased destructive power in many hurricanes is tied together, according to the recent comments in the New Scientist:

"Global warming is pumping up the destructive power of hurricanes and typhoons, a new study suggests.

An analysis of data on storm winds and duration shows that potential wind-caused damage has roughly doubled over the past 30 years, although tropical sea-surface temperatures have increased by only half a degree over that time, says Kerry Emanuel at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US.

The frequency of hurricanes seems unaffected by global warming. Regional totals vary periodically, but the number of tropical cyclones around the world averages a steady 90 per year"