SCIENCE: Yes, Climate Change Is Making Storms Like Hurricane Ian Worse

 As a meteorologist who has specialized in tropical meteorology since 2005, I can tell you that I've observed tropical cyclones (Hurricanes and Typhoons) have become more intense over the last 17 years. Recently, TIME magazine published an article explaining exactly that. Here's the article:

Yes, Climate Change Is Making Storms Like Hurricane Ian Worse

TIME Magazine, BY ALEJANDRO DE LA GARZA SEPTEMBER 28, 2022

As Hurricane Ian barreled toward the central Florida gulf coast this morning before making landfall as a Category 4 storm, the conservative media-sphere was having a field day at the expense of CNN anchor Don Lemon.

On his program Tuesday night, Lemon had asked NOAA National Hurricane Center acting director Jamie Rhome about the effect climate change was having on the approaching storm. Rhome said he wanted to talk about the current situation facing Florida and that he would talk about climate change at a later time. Lemon tried again, asking about the link between climate change and increasingly intense hurricanes. “I don’t think you can link climate change to any one event,” Rhome responded. “On the cumulative, climate change may be making storms worse, but to link it to any one event, I would caution against that.”

In taunting headlines that followed, conservative media outlets framed the comments as a clapback against what they continue to portray as climate alarmism on the part of mainstream news outlets. Fox News wrote that Rhome had “shut down” Lemon on climate change. The U.K.’s Daily Mail wrote that he had been “schooled AGAIN [sic].” When contacted for comment, the National Hurricane Center flatly refuted any implication that Rhome meant to downplay how climate change is making hurricanes like Ian more dangerous, saying only that his immediate focus had been on talking about the storm’s approaching impacts—where rain, wind, and flooding will hit, and how bad it will be.

“The acting National Hurricane Center (NHC) director clearly stated that ‘on the whole, on the cumulative, climate change may be making storms worse.’ That is supported by the overwhelmingly clear science on what climate change means for storms like Ian in general: heavier rainfall, possible slower movement which prolongs heavy rain and battering winds, and more inundation as sea levels rise,” the Hurricane Center’s public affairs officer Maria Torres wrote in an email to TIME. “Researchers will analyze Ian afterwards to see what impact climate change may have had on this specific storm.”

The science is well-known.

1) Higher average temperatures lead to warmer ocean waters which in turn causes more evaporation. As hurricanes pass over, they absorb more moisture, leading to heavier rainfall.

2) Warmer waters linked to climate change also increase the storms’ wind speed, and can cause hurricanes to undergo so-called “rapid intensification” more often.

IAN RAPIDLY INTENSIFIED: In less than a day, between Monday and Tuesday, Hurricane Ian became 67% stronger; the stretch of water the storm traveled over was a full 1°C warmer than average, largely due to climate change.

3) Rising sea levels also multiply the flooding danger from what is often the deadliest aspect of a hurricane: storm surge, helping to push flooding further inland.

FULL ARTICLE: https://time.com/6218075/hurricane-ian-climate-change-impact/