Deep Dive Radio Network

The small Tennessee town of Selmer awoke on Thursday to scenes of utter devastation, the aftermath of a brutal tornado that pulverized homes into piles of debris.

The first round of hurricane-season predictions is out. The buzz has been muted because they are all relatively tame compared to recent years. The key issue to understand is called forcing. If the whole tropical Atlantic from Africa to Florida is extra warm, the number of storms and especially the number of hurricanes is "forced" higher by the extra energy in the water.

Leading hurricane researchers have a sobering outlook for the upcoming Atlantic hurricane season that could see the fury of storms exceeding typical levels.