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Satellite image of the Atlantic on November 10th, 2020.
Image: NOAA
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"Subtropical
Storm Theta, which formed in the open waters of the Atlantic this week,
became the 29th named storm of this year’s hurricane season, surpassing
the total count from 2005. Scientists can’t say for sure whether global
warming is causing more hurricanes, but they are confident that it’s
changing the way storms behave. Here’s how. |
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| Higher winds. There’s a solid scientific consensus that hurricanes are becoming more powerful.
Hurricanes are complex, but one of the key factors that determines how
strong a given storm ultimately becomes is ocean surface temperature,
because warmer water provides more of the energy that fuels storms. | |
| More rain. Warming
also increases the amount of water vapor that the atmosphere can hold.
In fact, every degree Celsius of warming allows the air to hold about 7
percent more water. That means we can expect future storms to unleash
larger amounts of rainfall. | |
| Slower storms. Researchers do not yet know why storms are moving more slowly, but they are. Slower, wetter storms worsen flooding. | |
| Wider-ranging storms. Because
warmer water helps fuel hurricanes, climate change is enlarging the
zone where hurricanes can form. That could mean more storms making
landfall in higher latitudes, like in the United States or Japan. | |
More volatility. As
the climate warms, researchers also say they expect storms to intensify
more rapidly. Researchers are still unsure why it’s happening, but the
trend appears to be clear."
Go to New York Times
Related: Polling Shows Growing Climate Concern Among Americans. But Outsized Influence of Deniers Remains a Roadblock (excerpt): DeSmog
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