Monday, August 1st, 2005 — Spurred by global warming, hurricanes have grown fiercer in recent decades and even tougher storms are likely on the way, a researcher predicts. The analysis, released online Monday by the journal Nature, confounds some past studies that had indicated that increasing average temperatures worldwide over this century — a United Nations climate panel has projected that temperatures will rise from 2 to 10 degrees worldwide by 2100 — would have little effect on hurricanes.