Hurricanes in Florida . . . And the latest from the prognosticators? "Global Warming has Little Impact on Tropical Storm and Hurricane Numbers."

Yes, you are reading this correctly . . .  A leading scientist (meteorologist) with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and a harsh critic of the Bush administration's past censorship of studies citing the danger of global warming, has now come out with a study indicating that global warming isn't to blame for the recent jump in hurricanes.

Go figure . . . Tom Knutson's study released on Sunday indicates that the warmer temperatures will actually reduce the number of hurricanes coming ashore, and not by an insignificant amount. The study indicates that the number of hurricanes in the Atlantic will decline by 18% by the end of the century.

While numerous factors came together to slow the Florida real estate market, a spate of hurricanes hitting the state in 2004 and 2005 certainly had an adverse impact. The Florida Legislature ultimately stepped in to assume much of the risk in an effort to keep insurers from leaving the state altogether. So . . . there's a great deal riding on these predictions.  And, for the last two years the dire predictions - expectations of a higher than average number of hurricanes coming ashore - failed to materialize.

Hurricanes in Florida . . . it's anyone's guess. What say you?

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Global Warming has Little Impact on Tropical Storm and Hurricane Numbers