How climate change makes hurricanes worse

Here's what we know about climate change and hurricanes.

We know that humanity's carbon footprint has shifted the baseline conditions of the climate, the context in which every weather event takes place. But trying to isolate the human influence from everything else that is going on can be really hard, especially for hurricanes, or what scientists call "tropical cyclones."

They're super complex and the quality of the historical data we have for them isn't great. We do have physics, though. Hurricanes are driven by the transfer of heat from the sea to the air through evaporation. The storm's maximum possible wind speed, or its potential intensity, depends in part on how warm the ocean is – and of course, we're warming the ocean.

So researchers expect intense tropical cyclones to become frequent if we continue to warm the planet.

The hurricanes of the future will also be wetter. So coastal cities will face freshwater flooding from the sky paired with storm surge from the sea, which is higher now because we are also causing sea levels to rise. And that trend of wetter storms isn't just for hurricanes. Heavy precipitation events from other types of storms have been increasing in The US and should continue to increase across the country. Even in places that might see less rain over the whole year, they'll get more days with really heavy precipitation.

This comes down to basic physics too: warmer air can take up more water before it dumps it back down on us. All of this means global warming worsens floods like the kind that hit Houston.

But it's not our destiny to hurt ourselves like this. It depends on what we choose to do now. We could rethink our infrastructure and regulations to minimize the damage, but unless we also start cutting our carbon emissions and shifting the world to clean energy, it's just going to get worse.

Sources:

[Mavkor]

So frustrating when people say climate change doesnt exist

[ErickP]

Unfortunately some Americans would rather listen to billionaires who don't know anything about the climate. Then scientist who devote their entire life's to it.

[winterlarsime]

Even if you disagree with climate change, lets objectively agree on this:

We shouldn't be breathing in more pollutants from the air.

[torrestorres]

Despite all of these events, our ignorant President still thinks global warming does not exist.

[felixcretu]

I can’t imagine a world without my mom.
But I have to deal with it.
Hurricane Harvey took everything away from me, except my willingness to push forward.

[MonkeySuperGamer]

The fact that SCIENCE is somehow politicized is really sad.

[andrewkovnat]

Haha, look at these Humans, attempting to protect their planet from themselves only when it personally affects them.

[crustyplunger]

Wow one of those rare vox vids with a good comment section

[mertaydn]

hey vox. we want to english subtitles. this is too much good way for learning english.

[jbw]

Co2 traps heat. More heat in the system, more energy for storms. The End.

[dirtthrower]

That's what sucks about climate change. Convincing millions of businesses to stop conducting business and stop making money is almost impossible. Hopefully we start seeing a big spark of progression in a couple of years.

[ChiefRepublic]

Oh no, here come the Trump supporters whining about liberal propaganda again.

[ryanm]

Thank you Vox for continuously talking about climate change when other media outlets are too afraid of conservative backlash to describe climate change's role in weather events. While one individual storm is surely not soley do to climate change, the patterns of these storms are. Thank you for continuously citing the overwhelming scientific consensus on this issue and emphasizing its importance.

[SuperLiam]

Must be insulting to people who have to deal with the events of harvey be told climate change doesnt exist

[yongamer]

Should I trust the smartest people on earth, or should I trust Trump if they happen to disagree? This is actually a conversation in US.

[amira_the_lynx]

I finally got my grandfather to believe in climate change

[asdfpoop]

Here is the problem: we CANT fix it right now. There is no way to fix this "climate change" unless we are able to do it without setting back over 300 years of technology progress. Meaning we can't just instantly halt all use of fossil fuels and electricity instantly, we must first come up with alternate ways of travel, (Air, ground, and sea) electricity production, (enough to supply ALL of the United States) and other things. If you want to complain about it then give solutions.

[anoyanbanlor]

One thing about the amount of rain:
Higher average temperature would cause an increased amount of rain due to stronger convection in the mid-latitudes (30-60 meridians), but at the same time it causes the Hadley cell to widen, thus reducing the precipitation in the subtropical heights (10-30 meridians).

[Mandragara]

Pffft, physicists, what do they know about the natural world?

[Sharingan]

I like how the video included simulations and talked about projections. It was very factual and I'm glad that it was produced so effectively