Originally published October 9 2005
Causes for Hurricane Katrina and Rita remain natural
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
While Bush's administration has taken its toll on the economic and environmental health of the nation, most experts say that global warming is not the cause of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Natural climate fluctuations are more likely the cause of such devastating back-to-back storms.
Add two intense and damaging natural storms which bring destruction to that country; then mix in the widely held view that the same nation's environmental policies are partially responsible for those storms.
In the polarised world of climate change, this cocktail has proved an irresistible temptation to organisations which campaign against President Bush's administration in support of enhanced action to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
The latest to succumb was the British newspaper The Independent, which screamed on its front page: "This is global warming", above an alarmingly portentous graphic of Hurricane Rita's projected path.
The US National Hurricane Center/Tropical Prediction Center comments in its August summary that "thus far in 2005, there have been 12 named storms and four hurricanes.
"Based on recent research, the consensus view is that we don't expect global warming to make a difference to the frequency of hurricanes," explains Julian Heming, from the UK Meteorological Office.
"Activity is naturally very variable in terms of frequency, intensity and regional occurrence; in the Atlantic, there are active phases and not so active phases, and currently we're in the middle of an active phase.
Records from the 20th Century suggest that hurricane formation over the Atlantic has changed phase every few decades: the 1940s and 50s were active, the 70s and 80s less so, while the currently active phase appears to have commenced in 1995.
A key factor in the formation of a tropical cyclone - a low-pressure region that can turn into a hurricane - is sea-surface temperature, which has to be above about 27 degrees Celsius.
Katrina damage (AP) Population growth means there is now more property to damage So anything which changes the sea-surface temperature in the right parts of the world could theoretically affect hurricane formation.
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