HURRICAN.CBS 09/16/04 8:33 AM-DLR   1:26
Is it global warming?   This is Dave Ross on the CBS Radio Network.
Yet another major hurricane has slammed into the Southeast, sweeping away everything in its path - trees, beach houses, trailers.  Everything ... except, of course, reporters, who have special powers to withstand winds of any speed.
But now that we've had Frances, Charley AND Ivan, it raises the question - what did we do to deserve this?  Could it be... Global Warming?
The question isn't just being raised by SUV-haters - scientists know that higher ocean temperatures do indeed lead to stronger hurricanes, and we ARE seeing higher ocean temperatures - higher by about 5 degrees Celsius in that area.
The National Hurricane Center says those higher temperatures are directly responsible for the intensity of these hurricanes.
But:  are those higher ocean temperatures truly caused by Global Warming -  the build up of greenhouse gases due to cars, factories, and all the other stuff we burn.
And the answer appears to be ... no.  The warming is due to natural changes in ocean currents. 
Computer models show that Global Warming's big effect would be closer to the poles, not the tropics, and would tend to even out the earth's climate, which, if anything, should actually make these storms LESS intense.
In other words, global warming might raise sea levels, and endanger civilization as we know it, but it's not the reason your beach house got blown away.
As far as I can tell, the primary reason beach houses get blown away - is that people build them on the beach.
And if you're going to defy nature like that - there's not much you can do except to get the hell out, or, of course, become a reporter.
Now this.
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