Researchers from the Met Office established a direct link between levels of industrial pollution and the frequency of hurricanes in the North Atlantic.
For much of the 20th century, sooty pollution in the atmosphere has made conditions unfavourable for the storms, causing their numbers to drop.
But since the 1980s, cleaner air over the Atlantic has created better conditions for hurricane formation, with more tropical storms developing and battering American and Caribbean coasts as a result.
Aerosol pollutants in the air make clouds brighter, causing them to deflect more sunlight directly back into space, scientists explained.
Greater concentrations of aerosols affect ocean temperatures and circulation patterns in a way that makes it harder for hurricanes to form, but cleaner air in recent decades has resulted in more favourable conditions for tropical storms.
Well, once again the law of unintended consequence strikes as Mother Nature seeks to balance the effects of rabid greenie ferals on our daily lives.
Time to light the fire and do my bit to get those soot levels to where they should be.
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