Brits flock to US weather sites during hurricane

UK traffic to weather and environmental sites has surged in the wake of the US hurricane disaster. According to web monitoring company Hitwise, Weather.com and National Geographic have seen large increases in the number of people visiting their sites since President George Bush had declared a state of emergency on 28 August. Hitwise said searches on ‘Hurricane Katrina’ have grown nine-fold in the past week. UK visits to the US website of The Weather Channel, www.weather.com, increased by 27 per cent. Also popular was the homepage of the US-based ABC News which provided real-time updates on the disaster as it unfolded. In addition, market share for the website of National Geographic saw a pronounced spike, with traffic surging 42 per cent as people investigated global warming.