The storm swept into Georgia after hitting the Florida coast
How fast is the Universe warming? The rise of global storms and flooding caused by tropical cyclones in the 1950s and 1960s
As Earth’s climate warms, more storms are intensifying quickly, growing from relatively weak tropical storms to Category 3 or higher hurricanes in under 24 hours, sometimes stunning forecasters and giving residents little time to prepare.
Global warming is changing storms and researchers are unsure about whether the change will mean more active hurricanes in the future.
There is a “migration of tropical cyclones out of the tropics and toward subtropics and middle latitudes,” Dr. Kossin said. That could mean more storms making landfall in higher latitudes, like in the United States and Japan.
Slower, wetter storms also worsen flooding. Dr. Kossin likened the problem to a walking around your back yard with a hose on top of the ground. The water will not have a chance to start pooling if you walk fast. He said that if you walk slowly you will get a lot of rain.
In a 2018 paper, Dr. Kossin wrote that hurricanes over the United States had slowed 17 percent since 1947. Combined with the increase in rain rates, storms are causing a 25 percent increase in local rainfall in the United States, he said.
- Slower storms. Storms are moving more slowly but researchers don’t know why. Some say a slowdown in global atmospheric circulation, or global winds, could be partly to blame.
There are 2. More rain. Warming increases the amount of water Vapor that the atmosphere can hold. The air is able to hold 7 percent more water when it goes up in temperature.
Source: Powerful Storm Sweeps Into Georgia After Pelting Florida Coast
How fast can a tropical storm become a Category 4 hurricane? Dr. Ken Emanuel: preparing for a storm before deciding whether to evacuate
According to the National Hurricane Center, rapid intensification means an increase of at least 35 m.p.h in the maximum sustained winds over a 24 hour period. The likelihood that a storm will intensify has increased since the 1980s.
Kerry Emanuel is a professor of atmospheric science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. We predicted 30 years ago it would go up.
Warmer water in the ocean provides more energy to fuel hurricanes than cooler water, which is one of the factors that determines how strong a storm becomes. Higher surface temperatures allow hurricanes to reach higher levels of maximum sustained wind.
Dr. Emanuel said that it was a forecaster’s nightmare. There is no time to evacuate people when a tropical storm develops into a Category 4 Hurricane.
The window of time for making a decision gets smaller. For example, if officials, working with forecasters, issue an evacuation order too early, then they risk unnecessarily sending hundreds of thousands, and sometimes millions, scrambling, jamming highways and snarling transit systems. In some cases, that could be more dangerous, disruptive and costly than staying in place.
The First Hurricane Idalia is Coming: Florida’s West Coast is Covering a Thousand and One Day with Winds, Winds and Winds
Idalia, the first major Hurricane to threaten the US, is expected to be more active than usual. There is a chance that climate change may have contributed to the record-breaking ocean temperatures off the Florida coast.
More than half of Florida’s western coastline is at risk of life-threatening storm surges, as rising ocean water floods towns. The Gov warned that you are not going to survive. The latest updates are here.
In Florida, tens of thousands of customers are without power. The strongest storm in decades is forecast to hit the city, and there is a chance of a few days of power failures.
More than 50,000 soldiers and airmen are currently deployed or will be deployed by the end of the year, with help coming from as far away as California.
Communities along hundreds of miles of coastline boarded up windows, evacuated buildings and emptied grocery store shelves to protect them from flooding. Many people have moved from the island city of Cedar Key. The mayor said his family had been here for many generations. We haven’t seen a storm like this before.