Dorian is the second-strongest Atlantic storm on record. That seems to be part of a worrying trend
IF HURRICANE stories feel like an annual ritual for news organisations every autumn in the northern hemisphere, that is because they are.
Last year was the third in succession of storms in the Atlantic of above-average intensity. Hurricane Dorian suggests this year may follow suit. It is the second-most powerful Atlantic storm recorded, and the strongest-ever to pound the Bahamas, where damage is described as “catastrophic”. Storm-surge and hurricane warnings have also been issued for long stretches of the American coast.
Indeed, research by the American government’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration finds a correlation between rising sea-surface temperatures in the Atlantic and an index measuring the combined frequency, intensity and duration of hurricanes. Moreover, climate change is also causing sea levels to rise, as hotter water expands and polar ice melts. This makes the storm surges that accompany hurricanes more damaging. When Dorian was ravaging the Abaco islands in the Bahamas, a surge higher than a two-storey building brought devastating flooding.
A third factor that may be linked to climate change is the more frequent “stalling” of storms—as has happened with Dorian this week. A recent study by NASA and NOAA showed that over the past seven decades North Atlantic hurricanes have been moving slower and meandering farther from their average trajectory. The result has been storms that linger for longer periods of time near the coast, leading to more rainfall, and more flooding.
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