Data from a NOAA Reconnaissance Aircraft indicate that tropical depression five in the Gulf of Mexico has reached tropical strom strength andis now tropical storm ERIN.

It has been reported that tropical storm Flossie has now been upgraded to a Hurricane by the National Hurricane Center. The storm formed on Wednesday and was halfway between Mexico and Hawaii.

About twice as many Atlantic hurricanes form each year on average than a century ago, according to a new statistical analysis of hurricanes and tropical storms in the north Atlantic. The study concludes that warmer sea surface temperatures (SSTs) and altered wind patterns associated with global climate change are fueling much of the increase.

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.

The perceived neediness of Hurricane Katrina victims is a better determinant of charitable giving than the victims' race, according to study by Christina M. Fong, research scientist at Carnegie Mellon University, and Erzo F.P. Luttmer, associate professor at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. The paper was published this month by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER).

During hurricanes, parking garages commonly are used by car rental agencies and car dealerships to shelter vehicles.

Certain home shapes and roof types can better resist high winds and hurricanes, according to a researcher at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT). Civil engineer Rima Taher, PhD, special lecturer in the New Jersey School of Architecture at NJIT, spent two years examining the findings of research centers that have studied the best designs and and methods needed to withstand extreme wind events and hurricanes.

All eyes are on where hurricanes make landfall, but the massive storms actually cause the most deaths inland, where severe flooding often surprises residents.

Atlantic basin, and the reported increases in recent decades in some hurricane intensity and duration measures in several basins have received considerable attention.

Purdue University researchers have found evidence that tropical cyclones and hurricanes play an important role in the ocean circulation patterns that transport heat and maintain the climate of North America and Europe.

In 2007 Atlantic Hurricane Season NOAA names 13 to 17 predicted storms.

Much of the nation's Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coastlines face substantially higher-than-normal risks for hurricanes in 2007, according to an analysis by a University of Central Florida researcher and his Georgia colleague.