Debate on the impact of Sea Surface Temperature on hurricanes will continue in 2009

A running debate about whether warmer sea surface temperatures (SST) in the Atlantic Ocean correlate with greater hurricane frequency and intensity will most likely continue into 2009, Aon-Benfield’s Annual Global Climate and Catastrophe Report: 2008 says.
As it stands, “as climatologists and meteorologists continue to debate the natural cycle/global climate change theories and research, the current historical database of hurricanes through 2008 shows that frequency and intensity continue to be above average since the current warm water period began in 1995,” the 110-page report notes.
A chart in the report breaks down the hurricane intensities (from Category 1 to ‘Category 4 and higher’), and compares the average annual number of each type of hurricane between two periods: 1950-1994, and 1995-2008 (when SSTs are warmer).
The chart is reproduced as follows:

Hurricane                                                Average
Intensity        1950-1994    1995-2008    Increase

Category 1        6.2            7.9                 26.7%
Category 2        3.7            5.0                 33.5%
Category 3        2.7            3.9                 44.9%
Category 4+      1.4            2.5                 82.1%

“Frequencies of major hurricanes (Category 3, 4 and 5 on the Saffir-Simpson Scale) show a very distinct correlation between positive (warm) and negative (cool) phases of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) and hurricane frequency,” the report notes.