Atlantic Hurricanes Are Getting More Dangerous, More Quickly

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https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/atlantic-hurricanes-are-more-likely-to-power-up-quickly-180983104/

By Brian Handwerk, Smithsonian Magazine.

Excerpt: ...a new study, published Thursday in Scientific Reports, found that in recent decades Atlantic hurricanes were far more likely to dial up from weak Category 1 to major Category 3 or higher storms in only 24 hours. Storms from 2001 to 2020 did so at more than twice the rate as the same types of storms between 1970 and 1990. ...While the study did not include an analysis that attempts to firmly identify the cause or causes of the more quickly intensifying storms, Garner interprets the results as a warning call on how climate change is raising sea surface temperatures. ...Hurricanes are fueled by warm surface water. ...since reliable global satellite data began to be collected in the 1980s, there has been a remarkably consistent average of about 80 tropical cyclones each year. Most current research suggests that Atlantic hurricanes ...may actually become less frequent with climate change. That sounds like good news, but ...Research also shows that the hurricanes we are experiencing are becoming more destructive, and that trend also seems likely to continue—because of climate change and human behavior. Climate change is causing hurricanes to produce more rainfall, according to reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. For every degree Celsius of warming, studies suggest, rainfall rates may rise by about 7 percent. So under a 2-degree Celsius warming scenario, hurricanes will be expected to saturate impacted communities with 14 percent more rainfall....

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