Are storms more frequent and severe now, then they were in the past?

Answer 1

No. Some scientists affiliated with the IPCC have tried to make this case but it did not work. Christopher Landsea resigned from the IPCC because Trenberth made public statements about this Landsea considered untrue.

Hurricanes (cyclones) in the Pacific are down sharply recently.

Answer 2

In some cases yes, and in others no.
Tornados seem to be more frequent and thunderstorms seem to be more severe and have higher winds these days.
After the year that had hurricane Katrina, there has been little, if any hurricane activity reaching the United States in two seasons, which is very strange. One year, a few years ago, there was a hurricane that was recorded off the coast of Brazil, which has never been known to happen - ever.

We also seem to have a new kind of storm to deal with and that's a firestorm. Those are forest fires so large that they set off their own weather systems.

So, not only have some storms been more severe, it seems there has also been slightly more irregularity.

Answer 3

No. not in either ocean. Hurricanes are down this year. Up from last year, in which there were just a handful of named storms that formed in the Atlantic, but down from the record of 26 just 2 years ago, in which Katrina occurred.

many "Scientists" wanted to blame Katrina on global warming (you still see that a lot on this site). but lets not forget. Katrina was strong at one point, but it made landfall as a Cat. 3, and the levies bursting caused the majority of the problems (all flooding). since then, the trend has bene to say that storms will "COntinue to increase in frequency and intensity". and yet, the past 2 years have not bourne that out at all. last year was the calmest hurricane season in a century, and this year, there have been very few storms at all, most of them only reaching tropical storm status.

thats one of the main talking points argued by GW proponents- that storms would be more frequent and intense. so far, there has failed to be any correlation at all.

Answer 4

Here on the west side of Washington the storms have definitely become more severe and frequent but when we look back a decade the same thing happened as is happening now, it definitely runs in cycles.

Answer 5

Pacific typhoon frequency isn't increasing, although it surely hasn't declined precipitously as one other responder said, but the 5-yr running mean average number of super typhoons has increased by 50% from 1988 to 2004. Maybe more interestingly, the 5-yr running average fraction of the total number of typhoons that turn into super typhoons has doubled from 0.2 to 0.4 over the same time period.

So storms might not be more frequent, but there is some evidence that they are more intense, at least if you are talking about pacific tropical cyclones.

Answer 6

That depends on where you are geographically.

I believe climate change is beginning to happen and that we are starting to see weather trends that indicate a number of regions are headed for some serious weather "events" that will include more frequent / severe storms.

After numerous mild winters both Michigan and Washington state (in Washington the ski industry had nearly collapsed) this past year experience a number of major blizzards and snow storms. The Southeast after significant spring flooding was plunged into a prolonged drought.

If these cycles begin to repeat themselves I think we have a good deal to worry about.

Answer 7

it won't purely be Europe that is plagued via this new serge of surprising climate. it may actually be all all over the area, by way of fact all of the ice melting international. while ice caps and glaser's soften into the sea and into the ambience then you definately get greater storms then frequent. How do i understand this??? permit me ask you a question. have you ever herd of dry storms beside a sand storms??? NO? nicely that is with the help of the fact there are not any storms in dry situations. Storms in uncomplicated terms happens in moist environment and meaning if the air international is moist-er (greater saturated with moisture) then that could be a good assumption on my section to assert that storms could be greater primary now then till now, by way of fact of greater moisture in the air.

Answer 8

Reasonable scientists disagree about this. It's one of the remaining questions about global warming.

The disagreement can't be summarized in a short answer, but here's a really good book about this important controversy. It's not advocacy, it doesn't take a position.

Storm World: Hurricanes, Politics, and the Battle Over Global Warming

11 reviews on Amazon - 5 star rating

http://www.amazon.com/Storm-World-Hurricanes-Politics-Warming/dp/0151012873

Answer 9

No and as to hurricanes, the lead US hurricane forecaster said if GW had anything to do with the hurricane cycle it would be a factor of 1%. People find it strange that a hurricane has hit places like New York but it has happened many times in the past.
Ahh Dana the key to that Chart is "Reported events" Kinda like does a bear crap in the woods

Answer 10

I don't think so. I know that the winters here in the south have gotten a lot warmer since 2000. The past two years our summers have been pretty nice also compared to summers in the 2000's -2003.