Every day, you hear numerous reports about how global warming is hitting the United States and that in a few years from now, disterous weather phenomena like hurricanes will be on the rise. But can scientist really prove that global warming really does exist? What is their backing that the earth is really getting warmer? Global warming is a theory, not something that people can test for accurately without many years of research and study. Ten or twenty years does not cound as being accurate. Scientists need to look at the big picture by looking at weather not only from the present, but also from over a hundred years ago to see if there is any change. Studying the weather can give people an idea that global warming is not a big issue and that scientists are in my opinion trying to scare the American people into submission. We had a record number of hurricanes during hurricane season 2005, yet last year we didn't have many hurricanes. Second, wouldn't weather patterns and climates change over time? If global warming has been going for as long as scientists say, then wouldn't there have been some sort of noticeable change that non meteorologists could detect within the weather in their own backyards? Wouldn't temperatures slowly be on the rise each year? There isn't a lot of difference between the temperatures and weather patterns here in 2007 from when weather statistics were first recorded in the 1800's. Looking from a meteorology student's point of view, I would have thought that there would be some indication in the weather on whether or not global warming exists. I don't want people to think that I'm saying that they are wrong if they do believe in global warming. I'm only saying that scientists are making such a big deal out of a theory that they have not proven. I would be interested in hearing other people's thoughts on global warming.