About 10 years ago John Barnes wrote a science fiction novel "Mother of Storms" in which an abrupt episode of global warming (the UN nuked Alaska and released a tremendous amount of methane into the atmosphere) created a 'super hurricane'. This monster had supersonic winds with a cloud deck extending into the stratosphere and spawned 'daughter' hurricanes. It was powerful enough to cross Mexico and raveged the coasts of both the Pacific and Atlantic.

I suspect that the science behind the novel is pretty shaky but it did make meterology interesting and illustrated how humanity is totally at the mercy of nature.