Debates over the impact of global warming on weather patterns around the world have been a source of intense scrutiny in recent years. One such debate that has seen increasing attention in the scientific community is: what impact does global warming have on the frequency and intensity of hurricanes? After the particularly intense hurricane season of 2005, which generated the devastating storms “Katrina” and “Rita”, this question also attracted a lot of attention from the media. However, before we can even begin to answer the question posed by the article's title, we must first explore; What is a hurricane? How is it formed? And we also need to examine what is meant by the term global warming. First, hurricanes, otherwise known as tropical cyclones, form over warm ocean waters of at least 26.5°C and at a depth of at least 45 meters. A high Coriolis effect must also be present, such as that just north and south of the equator. (Moran, 2011) Hurricanes begin as smaller storms called tropical disturbances, if the storm experiences a sufficient loss in surface air pressure coinciding with a strengthening of sustained winds, the storm is then transformed into a tropical depression. As the storm continues to intensify and wind speeds reach 40 mph, it becomes a tropical storm and is finally given a name. When the storm continues to grow in strength and reaches wind speeds of 70 mph (119 km/h), it becomes a hurricane. (Moran,2011) Global warming is described as an increase in the average temperature around the world over a long period of time. Typically, when scientists use the term global warming, they use it to describe rising temperatures due to human actions such as the use of fossil fuels and the release of aerosols into the atmosphere... center of paper... f America, Boston MA: The American Meteorological Society. Larson, C. (2008, September). Global warming and hurricanes: is it a trend?[Article]. Retrieved from Today's Science database. Larson, C. (2005, August). Hurricanes and global warming: is there a connection?[Article]. Retrieved from Today's Science database.Ming, Z., & Held, I.M. (2010). An analysis of the effect of global warming on Atlantic hurricane intensity using a GCM with statistical refinement. Climate Journal, 23(23), 6382-6393. doi:10.1175/2010JCLI3837.1Kunzig, R. (2006). Hurricanes intensify global warming debate. Discover, 27(1), 20-23. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.Emanuel, K., Sundararajan, R., & Williams, J. (2008). HURRICANES AND GLOBAL WARMING. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 89(3), 347-367. doi:10.1175/BAMS-89-3-347 Retrieved from EBSCOhost