Climate Dynamics Observational, Theoretical and Computational Research on the Climate System © The Author(s) 2013 10.1007/s00382-013-1713-0 Recent intense hurricane response to global climate change Greg Holland1 and Cindy L. Bruyère1 (1)National Center for Atmospheric Research, NESL/NCAR, P.O. Box 3000, Boulder, CO 80307, USA Greg Holland Email: gholland@ucar.edu Received: 5 September 2012 Accepted: 21 February 2013 Published online: 15 March 2013