David Hastings: Climate Change Fuels More Intense Hurricanes

Climate change’s impact on hurricanes can be measured in overall power and category rankings and in the increase in property damage to coastal communities in Florida and other states along the Gulf of Mexico and the eastern seaboard. Marine geochemist and chemical oceanographer David Hastings explains that much of this increase in monetary damages is due to a combination of increased severity and longevity of storms due to rising global temperatures.

The longer a storm lasts, the more likely rainwater, storm surge, and winds will combine to increase damages, potential injuries, and loss of life.

David Hastings Explains Hurricanes And Climate Change.

Television footage of hurricane damage often focuses on the most dramatic displays of devastation, including intense wind damage and extreme flooding from sustained rainfall over a long period. In coastal communities, including those in Florida, these elements can inflict devastating damage, but other types of impact also cause both immediate and long-term damage. These include intense rainfall causing exceptional flash flooding events during and immediately after a bad storm, with  additional impacts from the consequences of storm surge.

According to reports by NASA and NOAA research, climate change is expected to cause more intense rainfall events during a storm and increase the likelihood of higher storm surge. For cityscapes built on the edges of sandy beaches, saltwater intrusion during small and large storms can cause temporary drainage issues and gradually undermine sewer systems, other municipal infrastructure, and even the foundations of buildings.

The collapse of Champlain Towers South in Miami’s Surfside community demonstrated how quickly minute damage from storm surges and encroaching saltwater can evolve into a tragedy without a storm cloud in sight. In this instance, climate change may have played two parts, with short-term breaches by seawater during storm events and the long-term intrusion of seawater due to rising sea levels due to global warming both contributing.

As hurricanes stand to become more intense as global warming provides more fuel, sea levels are expected to rise over time. The potential for devastating storm surges increases with higher sea levels, David Hastings reports. It is still being determined if communities with high-value coastal real estate can invest adequately in infrastructure capable of preventing more severe impacts with worse outcomes and higher damages.

Along with coastal flooding due to storm surge, global climate models predict that rainfall from hurricanes is expected to increase over the next several decades, increasing flash flooding during a storm and lingering backwater flooding after the clouds roll out.

David Hastings shares the same reports that show wind speeds associated with storms will likely also increase as temperatures rise due to climate change. For hurricanes, this increases the likelihood of severe property damage and fatalities for those who remain in the hurricane’s path. If there is a silver lining, climate models do not predict an increasing number of storms; they predict that the global frequency of storms will decrease or remain unchanged, while they do predict that there is a greater chance for more intense, major Category 4 and 5 events.