Are Hurricanes Becoming Stronger and More Frequent? Hurricanes
can be the deadliest, strongest, and costliest storms in the
world and they have been more severe than usual in recent years,
causing an amazing amount of damage to coastal towns and cities.
In 2004, a record number of hurricanes affected Florida and
typhoons struck Japan. A hurricane even formed in the South
Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Brazil, where no one had ever
seen a hurricane before. The 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was
predicted to be above normal as well and one of those storms,
Hurricane Katrina, devastated the gulf coast of the United
States as it passed through. Why are these monster storms
becoming even more monstrous? Some scientists have identified
that the number of hurricanes probably waxes and wanes with a
regular and natural cycle. Other scientists have identified that
the strength and length of storms is probably affected by global
warming. Both processes might be at work, and reserchers
continue their studies so that we