Climate security

5 Ways Climate Change May Be Making Hurricanes Worse

Natural disasters were once entirely natural — and most still are. Hurricanes, however, may be a different matter. As Hurricane Irma roars toward Florida, Hurricanes Jose and Katia churn in the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, and Houston picks up after Hurricane Harvey, the familiar question is being raised: what role does climate change play in all this volatility?

Climate scientists say that while a definitive answer is impossible, because the climate is unfathomably complex, there is a vast and growing body of evidence that points toward global warming having an impact on the formation and severity of hurricanes. Heidi Cullen, the chief scientist at the environmental advocacy group Climate Central, compares the cause and effect between climate change and hurricanes to the one that was long ago established between smoking and lung cancer: the risk factors are there, the disease process is understood and even if you can't definitively determine why any one person got sick, the trends and evidence are clear.