The Bush administration Thursday released a climate change assessment that confirms human-induced global warming will likely lead to stronger hurricanes, droughts and greater freshwater scarcity in the United States.

The national assessment integrates, evaluates and interprets the findings of the U.S. Climate Change Science Program (CCSP) and draws from and synthesizes findings from previous assessments of the science, including CCSP Synthesis and Assessment Products and reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

It is intended to help inform discussion of the relevant issues by decision makers, stakeholders, and the public.

A 1990 law, the Global Change Research Act, required the government to do an assessment on global warming every four years. The last one had been issued in 2000 during President Bill Clinton's administration. A court order and pressure from leading politicians, including Senators John McCain and John Kerry, were credited for finally getting the assessment published four years late.

Read the report at www.climatescience.gov/Library/scientific-assessment/Scientific-AssessmentFINAL.pdf