04:22 PM EDT on Thursday, April 6, 2006

Reported by: Velma Scaife

If it seems like the hurricanes of late have been more powerful, you're right.

"I'll have to say I don't totally understand it, if anybody does.  There does seem to be a change in the weather all across really," said Dee Sorensen, who lives in Hampton.

Weather experts looked at storms since 1995.  They say hurricanes occurring more often and they’re more intense.

"We're already 50% higher in terms of tropical storms activity in the last decade relative to the 1950s, which was the last big peak, and we're still going up that natural variable curve," noted Dr. Judith Curry.

Curry, who chairs the school of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology, is considered one of the top ten atmospheric experts in the U.S. Dr. Curry says some of what's happening in the Atlantic is part of a natural weather cycle, but she attributes the extra punch to global warming.

"We're headed for two decades of really high storm activity.  There's nothing that we can do in any scenario where we stop buying fossil fuels that's not going to help the hurricane situation.  We're stuck with that for the next decade.  We have to figure out how to protect ourselves from these storms, need to think of a sensible way to manage the coast lines in terms of vulnerability."

A record 27 tropical storms formed in 2005. Seven became major hurricanes, including Katrina and Wilma.

The first tropical storm of 2006 will be named Alberto.