New research in the infant field of paleotempestology finds signs of a spike in tropical cyclones beginning around 1000 AD similar to what we may be experiencing now:
The North Atlantic Ocean has spawned more hurricanes and tropical storms over the last decade than it has since a similarly stormy period 1,000 years ago, according to a new study. The research, published yesterday in the journal Nature, tries to trace the pattern of storms along North America's Atlantic and Gulf coasts back to A.D. 500, well before humans were recording weather observations.
The study may help define the dynamic between climate change and Atlantic tropical cyclone formation and intensity. In an unrelated study there is some speculation that human activity may have been affecting climate for much, much longer than previously thought.
- Watch for talking points that last July was the coolest since 1994 which leave out one important qualifier -- for the United States only. Globally, NOAA makes it the fifth warmest July on record overall and the warmest ever sea surface temperatures (SSTs) seen since records have been kept. Perhaps because of a greater weighting of SSTs, GISS chimes in that it was the second warmest global July of all time.
- Hurricane Bill is thankfully moving north and his only contribution to US coasts should be big clean swells and some beach erosion. But it's just a matter of time until a storm buzzes up the east coast like God's own chainsaw.
- Via PZ, who links to the site so that I don't have to, the Creationism Museum is having a science fair for the little ones in hopes of creating the next proud generation of willfully ignorant antiscience kiddies.
- Lurking deep beneath the ocean, looking like otherworldly creatures, we find a previously unknown clade of beautiful bioluminescent worms which drop a natural mini-flash grenade when disturbed.