How the climate crisis is changing hurricanes

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Hurricanes, also known as tropical cyclones and typhoons in North America, are powerful heat engines that produce wind and rain from warm ocean water and moist atmosphere. Scientists believe that they are becoming more powerful due to the climate crisis.

According to the Weather Channel, the proportion of hurricanes with high intensity has increased as a result of warmer global temperatures. UN climate reportThis information was released earlier in the month. Scientists have also discovered that storms are more prone to stall, resulting in devastating rainfall, and they last longer once they reach land.

“We have high confidence that greenhouse warming increases tropical cyclones’ wind intensity,” Jim Kossin of the Climate Service, a company that provides climate risk modeling, analytics, and support to governments, told CNN. This, in turn allows for the strongest hurricanes – which are the ones that pose the greatest risk – to become even more powerful.

Scientists like Kossin observed that storms are reaching the oceans more often than ever before. highest categoriesIn recent decades, they have been increasing in number — 3, 4, and 5, a trend that is expected to continue with rising global average temperatures. They are also moving closer towards the poles, moving less across the land, growing wetter, stalling in certain locations, and moving more slowly. Kossin found.

“There is evidence that tropical Cyclones are more likely to stall,” Kossin stated, naming hurricanes Harvey,2017, Florence,In 2018, Dorian,In 2019, as examples. According to the, Hurricane Harvey dumped more rain than 60 inches on parts of Texas, causing approximately $125 billion in damage. National Hurricane Center, and more than 100 people.

Evacuees wade down a submerged section of Interstate 610 in Houston after Hurricane Harvey in 2017 caused widespread flooding.

He said that all of these were destructive to the areas where they stalled. “The combination slow movement and more rain from them increases coastal and in-land flooding risk tremendously.”

A 2020 StudyNature also published data that showed storms are moving farther inland today than they did 50 years ago. Hurricanes, which are fuelled by warm ocean water, usually weaken after they move over land. However, in recent years, they have been raging more after landfall. According to the study, warmer sea surface temperatures lead to “slower decay” due to the increased moisture a hurricane carries.

Storm surge, torrential rain and damaging winds become the most dangerous, often fatal, threats when storms like Henri hit. Storm surge is caused when ocean water is blown onshore by wind. According to Kerry Emanuel of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, storm surge will only get worse due to stronger hurricanes and climate change-fueled sea rise.

“It is a very dangerous phenomenon,” said he. “And it’s responsible to a lot of deaths in the storms.”

According to UN reports, rainfall rates from high intensity storms will rise for every degree that the planet heats. This is because warmer air can hold more water. What had been Tropical Storm Fred was canceled earlier this week. More than 10 inches of rainfallAccording to the National Weather ServiceThe flood stage was 9 feet higher than the Pigeon River in Canton, and it killed Minimum of four people.

The science behind climate change attribution attempts to determine how important it played in extreme weather. made significant advancesAccording to the UN climate report, this has been the case for the past decade. Scientists are more confident now that climate change is linked to heat waves and flooding as well as drought and higher storm surge. Emanuel said that there are still questions surrounding hurricane development.

Emanuel stated that it is crucial to understand the threat by knowing where they are developing and moving. “We have to consider changing tracks and intensity, changing frequency and changing genesis — we are confident about some, but not so much about other elements.”

In the aftermath of Hurricane Florence in 2017, Bob Richling carries Iris Darden out of her flooded North Carolina home as her daughter-in-law, Pam Darden, gathers her belongings.

Scientists are unable to determine whether unusual storm tracks in North Atlantic like Henri’s are becoming more frequent due to climate change. However, long-term changes along Northeast coasts will eventually influence storms that make landfall there.

Kossin said, “One thing we might be able speculate on is that there is a very unusually warm ocean near the US Northeast coast and Canada with a possible human fingerprint on it.” “These warm waters should allow Henri’s intensity to increase as it moves northward.”

In 1991, Bob was the last major hurricane to hit the New England region. However, Irene,2011, Sandy,2012They were devastating for the Northeast when they arrived on shore, even though they didn’t make landfall as hurricanes.

Earth is warming faster than previously thought, scientists say, and the window is closing to avoid catastrophic outcomes

The 2020 hurricane season was so swift that it had to use Greek letters for names from September through November. This year’s season is already more than average: Atlantic storms starting with the letter “H” typically occur at the end September. Henri therefore formed more than a month before the average.

Extreme weather events will become more severe and difficult to predict as the planet warms. Emanuel believes that infrastructure damage and possible loss of life will increase if climate and emergency management policies don’t get fixed.

Emanuel stated, “The forecasters’ nightmare would be going to bed with the Gulf of Mexico tropical storm, headed towards a populated area and waking up in a Category 4-sized hurricane.” This is becoming more likely as the climate heats up.

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