Tropical Cyclones and Climate Change

Dale C. S. Destin |

With the current Atlantic hurricane season being hyperactive, thus far, and several countries being severely impacted by hurricanes, tropical cyclones (tropical depressions, tropical storms and hurricanes) continue to be made the “poster child” for the potential dangerous impacts of climate change.

Cat. 5 Hurricane Irma With Winds of 185 mph – Sep 5-6, 2017. The Eye travelled Across Barbuda and the Northern Leeward Islands.

This notion was crystallized by Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore on the cover of his book – “an inconvenient truth”, when he depicted a tropical cyclone (TC) spinning out of smoke stacks. Since then, several world leaders have supported this view, including former U.S. President Barak Obama, who said that “storms [are] growing stronger with each passing hurricane season”.

Over the years, many Caribbean leaders, have also joined in asserting that TCs have become stronger and more frequent due to manmade, greenhouse gas caused climate change. According to Prime Minister Gaston Browne of Antigua and Barbuda, “hurricanes are stronger and bigger because they are absorbing moisture from increasingly warmer seas, caused by global warming.” Browne’s colleague, Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit of Dominica supports this view and is convinced that Hurricane Maria is the product of climate change. He told the recent United Nations General Assembly that Maria was a climate change “truth we have just lived”.

Cat. 5 Hurricane Maria With Winds of 160 mph – 10:30 pm, Sep 18, 2017 – Eye Over Dominica.

There is no doubt that climate change is real and is happening. There is much evidence to point to. Contrary to the current U.S. President’s assertion, it is NOT a hoax created by the Chinese. However, do TCs deserve this poster-child position? How have TCs responded to manmade climate change? How will TCs respond to future climate change? Are there any doubts as to cause of Hurricanes Irma and Maria?

How have TCs responded, and how will they respond to human-induce climate change are topics of intense interest and public and scientific debates. Over the next few blogs, I will use the latest peer-reviewed scientific papers to answer these and related questions.

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