12,000 years ago, Florida hurricanes heated up despite chilly seas

Category 5 hurricanes may have slammed Florida repeatedly during the chilly Younger Dryas, 12,000 years ago. The cause? Hurricane-suppressing effects of cooler sea surface were out-weighed by side effects of slowed ocean circulation. That’s the finding of USGS researcher Michael Toomey and colleagues in their Geology article published online today.