![]() Bands of torrential rain will plague southeast Texas into the middle of next week. While most people focus on wind, the true destructive power of this storm will result from water. Hurricane Harvey has become a tourist it's going to hang around for a while and meander due to weak steering currents. Remember that most hurricanes come and go.they make landfall and keep on moving. However, this is not the only reason the Gulf Coast will see such extraordinary rain totals. Is global warming causing the incredible rain amounts expected with Harvey? As I explained above, increased atmospheric humidity due to global warming is making storms like Harvey more predisposed to heavier rainfall. So global warming may have been part of the cause that Harvey rapidly intensified Friday. Since global warming is warming our oceans, it is possible that the warmer Gulf temperatures have been impacted by the warming climate. This is the first Category 4 storm to make landfall in Texas since Hurricane Carla in 1961. Harvey could have developed regardless of the warming climate.Ĭould global warming have affected Harvey's strength at landfall? Harvey strengthened rapidly from a Category 1 to a Category 4 storm in just over a day, undoubtedly due to very warm Gulf of Mexico waters it traveled over. So let's now apply all of this to Hurricane Harvey:ĭid global warming cause Harvey? No. The only problem is that people get in the way, and hurricanes of the future likely will have higher rainfall and increased potential for catastrophic flooding events. ![]() So hurricanes are necessary to balance the planet's water budget. What most people don't realize is that, as summer wanes and we transition into fall, hurricanes are the atmosphere's natural mechanism to return the summertime water vapor back into the ocean. Statistics show that extreme precipitation events nationwide are increasing, and this also applies to tropical systems. Our warmer world with higher atmospheric humidity means that tropical weather systems have more moisture to tap into, which means greater potential for increased rainfall. Something else to consider is that, as the world warms, more ocean water evaporates into the atmosphere (which has been documented - it's happening).This water vapor is what hurricanes turn into rainfall. will likely be stronger, with a more severe storm surge and higher winds. ![]() ![]() But a hurricane that does form and heads toward the U.S. Is that good or bad news? Fewer hurricanes mean a lower chance that one hits the U.S. The bottom line is that our future may be one of fewer but stronger hurricanes. ![]() So even if the coming decades show a decrease in overall hurricanes, those hurricanes that do develop in otherwise favorable conditions will likely be stronger. A warming world means that ocean temperatures increase too, and we all know that warm ocean water is the fuel that powers hurricanes. In fact, some scientists say that a warmer planet will actually result in fewer hurricanes. Scientists are uncertain about whether or not global warming will cause more hurricanes. Here's the truth about the relationship between global warming and Hurricane Harvey: Did global warming cause Hurricane Harvey? While there is tremendous scientific agreement among scientists about the basic science of climate change, politics and social media have created an atmosphere where a lot of incorrect information is being bantered about. ![]()
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