A new scientific study found that human-caused climate change has intensified Atlantic hurricanes over the past six years. According to research published in the journal Environmental Research: Climate, climate change boosted the maximum sustained winds of the 11 hurricanes that formed in the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season by 9 to 28 miles per hour due to warmer-than-average ocean temperatures, as reported by ABC News.
"Every hurricane in 2024 was stronger than it would have been 100 years ago," said Daniel Gilford, a climate scientist at Climate Central, according to CNN. The study revealed that 84% of hurricanes between 2019 and 2023 were more intense than they would have been without climate change, showing a human fingerprint on storm strength.
Record-breaking ocean temperatures, fueled by planet-warming pollution, have turbocharged dozens of Atlantic hurricanes in recent years, making them more potent and dangerous by increasing their wind speeds. For the majority of storms—40 of them—the additional boost from warmer oceans caused the systems to rise a full hurricane category, as noted by HuffPost. The effect of climate change on storm strength was especially noticeable in stronger storms, including those that reached Category 5 on the Saffir-Simpson scale of storm intensity. The study found that climate change has made all hurricanes in the 2024 Atlantic season stronger than they would have been without it.
Among the most devastating storms of this year were Hurricanes Beryl, Helene, and Milton, which saw increases in their maximum intensities by 18 mph, 16 mph, and 24 mph respectively due to climate change, according to El Nuevo Día. Hurricane Milton rapidly intensified by 95 mph in just 24 hours, breaking meteorological records as the fastest intensifying storm in the Gulf of Mexico, as reported by CNN Spanish.
Hurricane Helene, which formed just four days earlier as a tropical depression, rapidly intensified over the Gulf of Mexico due to ocean water temperatures about two degrees Celsius higher than before industrialization. "[Helene] was significantly more destructive due to climate change," explained Ben Clarke of the World Weather Attribution group, according to Hoy. "When you start talking about the volumes involved, when you add even just a few percent on top of that, it makes it even much more destructive," he added.
The warming climate boosted Hurricane Helene's wind speeds by about 13 miles per hour, and the increased warmth gives hurricanes more energy, making them more dangerous, as reported by The Hill. Hurricane Helene dumped more than 40 trillion gallons of rain, leading to "extremely sudden flash flooding" as heavy precipitation funneled water from steep terrain into rivers and streams, devastating communities in the Tampa Bay area.
Just hours after the report on Helene's impact, Hurricane Milton, a Category 5 cyclone, struck the Florida peninsula, leaving nearly 3 million homes and businesses without power and resulting in at least 16 fatalities, according to The Hill. Researchers at Climate Central found that human-caused climate change made the exceptionally warm ocean temperatures that fueled Hurricane Milton's explosion between 400 and 800 times more likely, as reported by CNN Spanish.
"Through record-breaking ocean warming, human carbon pollution is worsening hurricane catastrophes in our communities," said Dr. Daniel Gilford, according to CNN Spanish. Past studies have shown that climate change has made hurricanes intensify faster and move more slowly, causing even more rain to be dumped, as noted by Axios.
The Atlantic region, especially along the Gulf of Mexico, has experienced record-breaking ocean temperatures, fueling hurricanes, according to El Tiempo. The study found that rapid intensification of storms is becoming more common due to climate change. Rapid intensification is defined as an increase in wind speeds of at least 35 mph in 24 hours or less, as explained by CNN. This phenomenon was observed in nine of the 2024 season's 11 hurricanes, which rapidly intensified due to climate change-driven ocean heat.
Climate experts say one thing is certain: as global temperatures continue to rise, the likelihood of more powerful and destructive hurricanes like those formed in the Atlantic this year becomes increasingly probable. "The increasing role of climate change in the intensities of extreme weather events is definitely worrying," warned Dr. Joyce Kimutai, a climate scientist at Imperial College London, according to The Guardian.
Scientists urge the world's nations meeting at the Cop29 climate summit in Azerbaijan to deliver deep and rapid cuts to carbon emissions and to fund the protection desperately needed by many communities against now-inevitable climate disasters. "If this continues, it's really going to be difficult for everyone. The climate crisis is not discriminating how it affects people. It's hitting every part of the world," stated Kimutai, as reported by The Guardian.
"As our planet continues to warm, comprehending these patterns is essential for predicting future changes in ocean dynamics and climate systems," said Dr. Aidan Starr, the lead author of a related study on ocean currents, according to The Independent. The study examined the role of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current in regulating dynamics in the Southern Ocean and global climate patterns over the past 1.5 million years.
As the climate continues to warm, hurricanes may become stronger and more destructive, with experts warning for almost 40 years that anthropogenic climate change would cause hurricane intensity to soar, as reported by Axios. The new study provides a method that scientists can use in the future to say, in near-real time, how global warming is affecting a specific cyclone, building on a framework for similar future studies of individual hurricanes or hurricane seasons.
In total, since 2019, eight storms have increased by at least 25 mph in wind speed due to climate change, with an average increase of 40 kilometers per hour, according to HuffPost. This underscores the human fingerprint on storm strength and the impact of climate change on extreme weather events.
This article was written in collaboration with generative AI company Alchemiq