2010 Hurricane Season: A Product of Climate Change, or Not?

On Monday night on the last day of May we will make our way home from our various Memorial Day activities and on Tuesday welcome the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season.  It looks ominous.  The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports that this year could be “one of the more active on record.”  A few things form the basis for this prognostication. First, wind shear in the upper atmosphere is deadly for hurricanes.  In 2009 El Niño in the eastern Pacific was strong, and so was the wind shear it generated.  This year El Niño has dissi...