The North Atlantic only represents a 1/10 to 1/8 of global hurricane energy output on average but deservedly so demands disproportionate media attention due to the devastating societal impacts of recent major hurricane landfalls. (wattsupwiththat.com)
The research is important because the lead author is Kerry Emanuel, the M.I.T. climate scientist who in the 1980's foresaw a rise in hurricane intensity in a human - warmed world and in 2005, just a few weeks before Hurricane Katrina swamped New Orleans, asserted in a Nature paper that he had found statistical evidence linking rising hurricane energy and warming. (dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com)
the skewed (by one year) temp graph seems to show some correlation with hurricane energy. (wattsupwiththat.com)