Hurricanes Now Less Intense

When I posted that hurricanes aren't caused by global warming, one irrate greenie commented that intensity was greater because of global warming, if not sheer numbers.

Greenie Watch provides three posts which question this. The first is quite interesting, listing hurricane seasons from 1877 on, presenting an "accumulated cyclone energy" index, which combines the number of systems, how long they existed and how intense they became. Interestingly, the numbers are grouped in two columns, so you can read the old vs. the new:

1969-2003......1877-1911
.....ACE.................ACE

1969 158........... 1877 73
1970 34............. 1878 181
1971 97............. 1879 64
1972 28............. 1880 131
1973 43............. 1881 59
1974 61............. 1882 63
1975 73............. 1883 67
1976 81............. 1884 72
1977 25..............1885 58
1978 62............. 1886 166
1979 91............. 1887 182
1980 147........... 1888 85
1981 93..............1889 104
1982 29............. 1890 33
1983 17.............. 1891 116
1984 71.............. 1892 116
1985 88.............. 1893 231
1986 36.............. 1894 135
1987 34.............. 1895 69
1988 103............ 1896 136
1989 135............ 1897 55
1990 91.............. 1898 113
1991 34.............. 1899 150
1992 75.............. 1900 84
1993 39.............. 1901 93
1994 32.............. 1902 33
1995 227............ 1903 102
1996 166............. 1904 25
1997 40............... 1905 28
1998 182..............1906 163
1999 177............. 1907 13
2000 116............. 1908 95
2001 106............. 1909 92
2002 66............... 1910 64
2003 175............. 1911 36

35y average
86.6 ACE.............. 93.9 ACE

Pretty straightforward, isn't it. Hurricanes in 1877-1911 had an ACE score 7.8 percent higher, on average, than those in 1969-2003.

With information like that, it's easy to believe this quote, from another post in the series:

"Environmentalists seeking to form a link between Hurricane Katrina and any human-caused climate change are engaged in 'shameless opportunism,' according to a spokesman for the conservative National Center for Policy Analysis.

"That is pure politics," the Center's Sterling Burnett told Cybercast News Service Wednesday .... "The science is pretty consistent in saying that we are seeing some increased hurricanes right now and it has nothing to do with climate change," Burnett said. "It has to do with natural cycles that fluctuate on the order of 10 to 30 years."