Trends in Strength of Hurricanes
The Art
The Science
What’s Alarming
Climate change increases the impact, strength and intensity of hurricanes: warmer oceans increase hurricane strength and create more evaporation, which turns to vapor and results in heavier rains; rising sea levels enhance the effect of storm surges causing greater flooding; changes in Gulf Stream patterns are also believed to cause stalling of storms over land with unprecedented levels of rain. According to the prominent climate scientist Michael E. Mann “Our work indicates that climate change is favoring this phenomenon. It likely plays a role in the decreased translation speed of landfalling hurricanes.” He notes that the changes in the jet streams driven by global warming lock zones of air in place, leading to prolonged heat waves or other extreme weather. New York Times, Sept 16, 2020.
The above graph show the increase of North Atlantic hurricanes, the most deadly to affect the US. Note the graph does not cover the period after 2010, which includes catastrophic storms such as Sandy, Harvey and Irma. In 2017, alone, Hurricanes Harvey, Maria and Irma caused a collective $165 billion in damages according to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (1-08-18).
