Was Hurricane Dorian Worsened by Climate Change?
Hurricane Dorian is in the books, and as I’m sure you know, it was absolutely devastating to the islands off the coast of Florida. In recent years, scientists, meteorologists, and other experts have tried to understand if huge storms like Dorian are caused by climate change. But this is not really the correct question. The correct question is, are storms being worsened by climate change?
How Climate Change Probably Intensified Hurricane Dorian
Although the puzzle is still being assembled, scientists have started to figure out that one telltale sign that climate change is worsening hurricanes is the fact that they are more prone to stalling compared to several decades ago.
For example, Hurricane Dorian hovered over the Bahamas as a Cat-5 storm for a whopping 24 hours, crawling at less than 1 mile per hour! And in 2017, Hurricane Harvey stalled over Houston for several days, dumping an unprecedented amount of rainfall. Because a greater percentage of hurricanes are stalling compared to historical averages, the potential for damage is exponentially greater.
According to one scientist, Hurricane Dorian is “yet another example of the kind of slow-moving tropical systems that we expect to see more often as a response to climate change.” The reason cited is that warming temperatures are slowing wind patterns during the summer months, resulting in slower storm trajectories.
In addition to the slowing pace of hurricane movement, hurricanes on average are producing greater amounts of rainfall due to higher average air and ocean temperatures. It remains to be seen if Hurricane Dorian experienced incremental rainfall or not. In any case, talk about a double whammy!
There is little doubt that severe weather events are increasing in severity, even if the frequency of storms has so far remained the same. More severe weather will make our jobs harder, but this increased level of difficulty can be mitigated by having best-in-class emergency plans and protocols in place.
