Hurricane Katrina offered a harsh reminder of what a hurricane can do to people in low-lying coastal areas. More than 1,800 people died in New Orleans, and along the Gulf Coast, tens of thousands lost their homes, and the storm caused more than $80 billion in damage. Katrina also raised a lot of questions about possible links between hurricanes and climate change.
Scientists have been investigating those links for decades. Today, most agree that global warming will have some effect on hurricanes (known generically as tropical cyclones) — including the potential to make them stronger. But scientists disagree on what the impact of that will be, or whether it even will be significant.
Here, a look at what's known and what's not about climate change and hurricanes.
Full Story: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18697992
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