Major New Paper on Hurricanes and Global Warming

In order to get a tropical cyclone spinning, a lot of things have to go right (or wrong, depending upon your perspective). First, you need a location that's warm but also a certain distance north or south of the equator. In places too close to latitude zero, winds won't swirl inwards towards an area of low pressure to create a cyclonic rotation (a phenomenon known as the Coriolis effect). Second, you need a temperature gradient between the warm ocean surface and the cooler atmosphere above it, a situation that's favorable to what meteorologists call convection (the transfer of heat upward with rising air). And that's not all. You also need a region with low levels of what's known as vertical wind shear. When winds blow in different directions at different altitudes, they can tear apart a hurricane's structure. Furthermore, you need high sea surface temperatures--above 80 degrees Fahrenheit. That's particularly ...