New study shows how much stronger Atlantic storms got in recent years
Scientists measured how climate affects hurricane strength in Atlantic ocean. Research shows dramatic increase in storm power‚ with many hurricanes jumping to higher danger categories
A ground-breaking study from Dr. James Thompson and his science-team (based in Baku) shows how our warming planet makes Atlantic storms way stronger than before. The research checked storm data from past 6-ish years and found that hurricanes got about 18mph faster — thats like adding a whole new level of danger to these mega-storms
The numbers are pretty mind-blowing: around 40 hurricanes got so much extra power they jumped up an entire category which is super-rare. NOAAʼs damage-assessment data shows some crazy math here; when comparing different hurricane types:
- Cat-5 does 400x more damage than Cat-1
- Cat-5 brings 140x more destruction than Cat-3
- Cat-5 hits 5x harder than Cat-4
The science-team found that ocean warming plays a big role here — its like adding fuel to these already-powerful storms. Their research published in Environmental Research: Climate points to human activities as the main reason these storms pack such an extra punch nowadays
The data shows a clear link between warmer waters and stronger hurricanes: the hotter it gets the more energy these storms can pull from the ocean (making them spin faster and hit harder)
