No doubt this year's hurricane season has been deadly and destructive but in no way, in my opinion, is it connected to climate change / global warming.  2004 and 2005 were also very active and destructive years.  People need to do their research before they start pointing towards global warming as the culprit.  

The earth is a living biosphere.  Our planet has geologic and atmospheric processes that help it stablize.  When tropical storms form and move northward from the tropics and eventually either making landfall or spinning themselves out over the ocean, it is nature's way of cooling and stablizing our living and breathing planet.  

If you look into the historical records of tropical meteorology, you will find records indicating that very large hurricanes have formed and made landfall.  The intensity of past hurricanes have reached category 4 and 5 on numerous occasions.  Records show that more then one hurricane has hit the same region within a very short timespan.  Records will indicate that past storms have intensified swiftly in just a short period of time such as we have seen this year with Harvey, Irma and Maria.

People get spoiled.  People forget and get complacent when it comes to weather and other natural disasters.  This year's active and deadly season is directly connected to the return of La Nina where the SST's in the pacific are cooler then average and this usually leads to less wind shear in the Atlantic and warmer SST's.  From 2006 through 2016, we have seen more wind shear and cooler SST's due to a pronounced El Nino.  This year's season is no different from many past seasons and I am talking about going back more then 100 or 200 years.  Now we have all the pro-climate change experts pointing fingers and saying "I told you so".  If climate change is such a big player in this year's activity then why was June through the first half of August so quiet?  Why was there so much dry air, wind shear and Saharan dust in the early part of the season?  Where was global warming then?

Why didn't the A through G storms all become hurricanes and maybe major hurricanes?  Why did tropical storm Lee a dud forming in the same region as Irma and Maria?  Why did Irma weaken from a category 4, 3 and 2 as the eye crossed the keys and headed up the west coast of Florida?  The SST's in that area are certainly ripe to maintain a hurricane's power.  Why is Jose weakening over cooler SST's north of Cape Hatteras?

People, such as the media and other agencies need to be concentrating on educating the public about how to prepare for hurricanes if you live in a coastal zone or inland from a coastal region between Texas and Maine.  We should be proactively teaching the public about what has happened in the past and what WILL happen in the future if we continue to build and live along coastal zones.  People need to be prepared by June 1st each year.  Prepare for the worst and hope for the best!  We need to stop putting so much emphasis on the number of storms we can expect each season and concentrate more on how to prepare for the ONE storm that may make landfall in your area.

One of the most concerned regions is the Northeast, where I reside, because most of the population in this area has never experienced a major landfalling hurricane.  The last category 3 storm to make landfall in southern New England was Carol in 1954 and that was 63 years ago!  Just ask some of the few survivors from that historic storm what it was like.  Our benchmark storm, our "Katrina" was the 1938 Long Island Express hurricane which killed over 600 people and caused billions of "today's dollars" of destruction.  Most of the survivors of that hurricane are past on now but go do some research and read the books about that storm such as "Sudden Sea" and "A Wind to Shake the World".  Read "The Fort Road Tragedy".  And if people's words don't make you a believer of what a real "major" hurricane can do here in the Northeast, do a search with google "1938 Hurricane images" and I guarantee your jaw will drop to the floor when you look at the destruction a category 3 hurricane did to our region.

Let me be blunt here - folks.  Gloria in 85 and Bob in 91, our last two landfalling hurricanes were weak examples compared to the 1938 and 1954.  If people think that Gloria and Bob represented the best nature can bring to our area -- think again.  It is just a matter of time before another "major"- meaning category 3 - hurricane similar to the 38 and 54 repeats history and strikes our region.  This time around -- the destruction and property damage in dollars will be staggering and with the population growth in our coastal region since 1954 and the inexperience of our new generations is a set up for disaster.