How Does Climate Change Affect Hurricanes?

When it comes to how climate change affects hurricanes, scientists believe that, while they won’t necessarily become more frequent, climate change is affecting and will continue to affect how intense hurricanes are. We explore how this occurs below.

Hurricanes will become more intense and devastating

Climate scientists believe that hurricanes are likely to become more intense and have more devastating impacts as a result of the climate crisis.

According to research in Climate Dynamics, the proportion of Category 4 and 5 hurricanes has increased at a rate of approximately 25–30% per °C from 1975 to 2010. NOAA research has suggested a similar increase in Category 4 and 5 hurricanes, with wind speeds increasing by up to 10%.

This is mainly thought to be caused by warmer sea surface temperatures, as a result of global heating, which is leading to the increase in wind speeds for tropical storms and higher levels of precipitation.

Hurricanes that quickly intensify are also harder to protect against so it can be hard to prepare for the worst in these situations.

The impact will be more damaging

Sea level rise will make the impacts of hurricanes and storms more damaging, particularly due to coastal flooding and higher storm surges. Global sea level is very likely to rise at least 12 inches (0.3 meters) above 2000 levels by 2100.

Higher storm surges are far more likely to cause damage. For example, when Hurricane Katrina hit, this is what caused the levees to fail in New Orleans which was ultimately devastating to communities there.

The storm surges will push more water inland during a hurricane.

Areas affected by hurricanes are shifting poleward

Another way climate change is impacting hurricanes is by shifting the regions that are likely to be affected by these natural disasters. The areas affected are shifting poleward, towards temperate and highly populated coastal areas, which are not well equipped to deal with hurricanes as they are not used to experiencing them.

An increase in extremeness rather than frequency

While scientists are in agreement that climate change is making hurricanes stronger and more damaging when they do occur, they don’t currently believe that hurricanes will become more frequent. Instead, they will be more extreme and may occur in areas that are not prepared.

How do we prepare for worsening hurricanes?

• Increase natural flood protection e.g. placing green spaces and restoring wetlands
• Waterways as natural storm reservoirs
• Improve building codes and increase protection of buildings e.g. elevating coastal homes
• Contact local and national governments and demand that they allocate budget to protection against hurricanes
• Try to minimise climate change as much as possible by stopping the burning of fossil fuels and other causes of greenhouse gas emissions!

Unfortunately, we cannot always prepare for devastating natural disasters like hurricanes, which are becoming worse with climate change. That is why the work of charities like Oxfam, WaterAid and UNICEF is so important.

These are just some of the charities we choose to donate 95% of our profits to when you use our search engine SearchScene!