One year before Katrina devastated New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, scientists feared global warming was going to make hurricanes more powerful.

Five Little-Known Facts:

1. “These are not natural disasters, they are environmental disasters.”
2. NOAA study found that Katrina was only a Category 1 or perhaps 2 on landfall
3. Storms in the NorthWest Pacific Ocean are 75 percent more powerful than they were 30 years ago
4. Climate change has the potential to raise oceans temperatures high enough create future hypercanes — 600 kilometre per hour superstorms
5. “The U.S. has a very big societal problem when it comes to coping with hurricanes” (ok, maybe you knew that)

This is a sampling of the little known information about hurricanes from respected scientists collected in the modestly titled “Steve’s Hurricane Handbook 2007 – Lessons Learned 2004-2006? “ (1.2 mb pdf). It’s a compendium of the most interesting quotes and facts about hurricanes from hurricane experts since 2004. Continue reading →