[CliffordK]

It might be easier to stop building stuff in the path of hurricanes.

The problem is that essentially the entire Eastern USA from Texas to Florida to Maine is in the path of hurricanes.  While the power and risk of storm surge decreases quickly inland, it would be difficult to say ignore a 100 mile strip along the coast.

Does the USA get off easy?  Maps of the Pacific Typhoons indicate that Asia gets hit heavily.  Are they all strong?

One can ask whether it is wise to build houses below sea level in a place with hurricane and storm surge risk.  But, otherwise, I think more effort should be put in designing and building storm resistant housing.

[damocles]

Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southern China, Japan, and the Philippines all get regularly hit by typhoons. Taiwan is well prepared, Philippines poor and poorly prepared, other places you do not get much news about devastation -- I suspect more because of restricted news than lack of problems. Typhoons can be every bit as strong as hurricanes

Same phenomenon:

Hurricane (North America)
Typhoon (East Asia)
Tropical Cyclone (Northern Australia and a few other places).

Cyclones can cause a lot of damage in Australia, but their tracks are mostly lightly populated, and in recent times people have been well prepared. Tropical cyclone Yasi did huge damage in a tourist/sugar cane/fruit growing area of North Queensland in Feb 2011

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/photogallery/environment/weather/yasi-hits-north-queensland-20110202-1acrd.html

[SeanB]

Sitting here in the rain from tropical storm Irene, has been raining steadily for a day now. luckily it is moving inland north of me, should bring some very welcome rain to the interior parts. Mozambique though is swimming again. Advisories of heavy swells out at sea, and warnings to all shipping about this.

So far about 5 inches of rain has washed all the roads, roofs and popped manholes all over.

I will be swimming tomorrow going to work, but the drains there are clear, cleaned last year of a lot of debris and fixed a few leaking and cracked pipes.

[Cheese2001]

http://www.usatoday.com/weather/resources/askjack/wfaqhurm.htm [nofollow]

Interesting Q and A from the USAToday newspaper about what has been attempted and tested to weaken hurricanes.  There are discussions about icebergs, water absorbing materials, nuclear warheads, and coating the ocean with chemicals to limit water evaporation.

-Cheese

[CliffordK]

http://www.usatoday.com/weather/resources/askjack/wfaqhurm.htm

Interesting Q and A from the USAToday newspaper about what has been attempted and tested to weaken hurricanes.  There are discussions about icebergs, water absorbing materials, nuclear warheads, and coating the ocean with chemicals to limit water evaporation.

-Cheese

Great link.

The cloud seeding sounds like an interesting method.
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/research/2006-04-18-project-stormfury_x.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Stormfury

In a sense, it is unfortunate that the project eventually lost support, and further testing was ceased.

However, keep in mind the final notes of the USA Today article:

Q: Is trying to modify hurricanes such a good idea after all?

A: Today, scientists are more cautious about trying to modify the weather than they were during the 1960s. Hurricanes, along with other storms and ocean currents, help balance the Earth's heat budget. Trying to change hurricanes could have consequences that no one intended.

In fact, concerns about the potential negative impact of seeding hurricanes led to cancelling the idea of testing the Stormfury seeding typhoons in the Pacific.

The plan was to begin again in 1976, and seed typhoons by flying out of Guam. However, political issues blocked the plan. The People's Republic of China announced that it would not be happy if a seeded typhoon changed course and made landfall on its shores, while Japan declared itself willing to put up with difficulties caused by typhoons because that country got more than half of its rainfall from tropical cyclones.

[Don_1]

Coincidentally, the BBC screened ’Orbit: Earth’s Extraordinary Journey’ (part 1) on Sunday, (part two next Sunday), in which Dr Helen Czerski touched on the relevance of hurricanes and their effect on the bigger picture of weather systems around the world.

Lou, I think your poll is missing an option. While I realise that you are more interested in the taxpayers willingness to cough up a little extra to pay for your scheme, I still think you should include an ecological opt out option; vis – ‘No, I do not want Man to interfere with global weather systems.’

[damocles]

Lou, I think your poll is missing an option. While I realise that you are more interested in the taxpayers willingness to cough up a little extra to pay for your scheme, I still think you should include an ecological opt out option; vis – ‘No, I do not want Man to interfere with global weather systems.’

Nice thought, Don, but the cat is already well and truly out of that bag!

[Bored chemist]

Damocles,
Weather<> climate

[damocles]

Damocles,
Weather<> climate

Point taken, but climate is a strong determining factor of weather! Certainly larger numbers of more intense tropical storms is generally recognized as a direct consequence of any global warming that might occur. "Generally recognized" means seen in theoretical treatments, in computer climate modelling, and observed over last decade or two.

Insurance companies tend to be among the more conservative elements in our society, and they have been so drastically affected that they have been among the first of the conservative crowd to recognize the reality of global warming.