If the planet’s climate keeps warming at current rates, by the end of this century Atlantic hurricane rainfall will be 24 percent higher than today. Maximum winds will be 6 percent stronger and the storms will move 9 percent slower, creating significantly more damage. Those are the findings from an international team of experts who modeled 22 hurricanes that hit between 2002 and 2013 and would take a similar track under the warmer conditions. Overall, the number of strong hurricanes occurring in any year would increase.
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Credit: Amanda Montañez; Source: “Changes in Hurricanes from a 13-Year Convection-Permitting Pseudo-Global Warming Simulation,” by Ethan D. Gutmann et al., in Journal of Climate, Vol. 31; May 1, 2018