As the city of New Orleans struggles to rebuild from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, researchers are learning more about weather and climate and their impacts on society. Scientists from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and many other institutions will converge in New Orleans next week to present their latest findings at the annual meeting of the American Meteorological Society.

Natural climate variations, which tend to involve localized changes in sea surface temperature, may have a larger effect on hurricane activity than the more uniform patterns of global warming, a report in this week's Nature suggests.

As the world warms, the interaction between the Atlantic Ocean and atmosphere may be the recipe for stronger, more frequent hurricanes.

Counting tropical storms that occurred before the advent of aircraft and satellites relies on ships logs and hurricane landfalls, making many believe that the numbers of historic tropical storms in the Atlantic are seriously undercounted.

Tropical storm Noel, which has killed at least 115, is now ranked a category one hurricane and continues to batter the Caribbean with torrential rain and strong winds, local media said.

Recognizing that the earth’s climate may be changing in a way that poses serious challenges to society, Travelers, a leading property casualty insurer, has taken action intended to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change, encourage environmentally responsible behavior and conserve natural resources.

A new study supported by NASA and the U.S. Office of Naval Research takes forecasters one step further to improving their ability to predict just how powerful an oncoming storm may become by using highly-sensitive sensors located thousands of miles from the storm to detect lightning outbreaks within a hurricane’s most dangerous area.

According to a new survey of people in high-risk hurricane areas conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health Project on the Public and Biological Security, one-third (31%) of residents said if government officials said they had to evacuate due to a major hurricane this season, they would not leave. This is an increase from 2006 when 23% said they would not evacuate.

Hurricane Dean crept into the northwestern Caribbean Sea early Monday after unleashing its fury on Jamaica, prompting its government to declare a state of emergency.

Sea surface temperatures are one of the key ingredients for tropical cyclone formation and they were warming up in the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean and eastern Atlantic Ocean by the middle of August. As a result, they helped spawn Hurricane Dean in the central Atlantic, and Tropical Storm Erin in the Gulf of Mexico, both during the week of August 13.

Space shuttle Endeavour on Sunday undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) a day early, as NASA kept a wary eye on Hurricane Dean.

U.S. seismologists say an earthquake with a magnitude of at least 7.5 has struck central Peru, prompting authorities to issue a tsunami warning.