Doubts On Global Warming's Affect
On Hurricanes, Study Says
by Wire Service
August 1,
2006
MIAMI, July 31 (Reuters) -
Officials tracking the approach of the peak hurricane season
told U.S. President George W. Bush on Monday that data linking a
series of devastating storms to global warming was inconclusive.
Eleven months after Hurricane
Katrina wreaked havoc on the U.S. Gulf Coast and caused
catastrophic flooding in New Orleans, Bush visited the National
Hurricane Center in Florida, a state often battered by
hurricanes.
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Showing Bush the maps and other
devices used to predict storms, Max Mayfield, the hurricane center's
director, said one question he is asked often is whether the
powerful hurricanes of the past few years, like Katrina, Rita and
Wilma, were the result of the earth's warming.
A scientist at the center,
Christopher Landsea, told Bush there was "not a consensus" linking
the two.
Hurricane and climate scientists
outside the government have been wrestling with that debate as well.
Many environmental groups are upset with Bush for his rejection of
the Kyoto agreement to cut greenhouse gases.
Many climate scientists believe
carbon dioxide and other gases trap heat like the glass walls of a
greenhouse and cause global warming. Skeptics doubt people affect
global climate change and say temperature fluctuations have occurred
throughout history.
Bush came under scathing criticism
for the botched federal response to Hurricane Katrina, which hit on
Aug. 29 and killed 1,300 and displaced hundreds of thousands.
The White House is eager to show
that the president has learned lessons from that disaster and that
the federal government has been thorough in preparing for the
possibility of harsh storms this year.
June marked the official start of
the hurricane season, but the peak season for the storms is between
mid-August and mid-October.
