reid willson editor-in-chief of the hot line.thank you for your time this morning. >>> sandy signals an area of extreme weather. this is the page has to say. even before sandy turned atlantic city monday a debate was raging and scientific government circles over whether the monster hurricane was a spawn of global warming. climate change activists pointed to sandy as the sort of extraordinary the conclusion is that sandy would have happened with or without climate change. but that extra heat and humidity said its strength. this seems beyond dispute because of man-made warming more natural cycles or both, it is in an era of extreme weather events. a report this month by the world's largest insurance forum confirmed what has been widely suspected, the number of catastrophes has been rising dramatically since 1980 on all continents and with the deepest increase in north america. it soared from an average of 9 billion that is what usa today has to say. contrast that with the "the washington times" editorial page. frankenstorm follies.