The 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, with three Category-5 hurricanes within a time span of two months (Katrina, Rita, and Wilma, August to October) in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, underscored an important fact: as populations boom in coastal regions and as the earth embraces a warmer climate with higher sea-surface temperatures over the tropical oceans, the next decade may see increasingly more intense storms that pose greater risks than ever before.