Story highlights White House says a 'trend analysis' is needed to make a connection between rising temperatures and hurricanes

Trump admin has worked to dismantle environmental laws and pulled out of Paris climate accords

Washington (CNN) The Trump administration would need to conduct a "trend analysis" to determine a potential connection between this year's spate of hurricanes and climate change, a top White House adviser said on Monday.

Tom Bossert, the homeland security adviser to President Donald Trump, told reporters that it was too early to say whether this year's storms were related to global warming, adding that further study is required.

"Causality is something outside of my ability to analyze right now," Bossert said in response to a question from CNN's Jim Acosta.

He said that hurricane seasons were "cyclical," and noted that scientists had accurately predicted this year would bring larger average storms.

"We'll have to do a trend analysis at a later date," Bossert said.