WHY was Hurricane Milton so fierce?

In the last CASA article, attribution science was explained. This science gives the likelihood of the intensity of Milton being 700 times more likely due to the climate crisis. To you and me that means it is due to the climate crisis, but how?

First of all, this is because of warmer seas where the hurricane formed. The sea was about 2°C warmer than average. These warm waters provide the storm with vast amounts of thermal energy, which fuels its strength. Wind speeds increased by 92 mph in just 24 hours. This is a direct result of human-induced global warming, which has significantly raised ocean temperatures globally.

Secondly, it happened because there is more rain in the clouds. The increased global temperatures mean that clouds hold more moisture. What has been pulled up has to come down. Thus the floods are more intense.

Thirdly, as a result of global warming, average sea level has risen due to a combination of warmer water taking up more space than colder water and to the melting ice caps and glaciers. It is an uneven rise globally so some places see an even greater rise than others. This means that a storm surge starts from a higher platform.

In summary, the climate crisis, through higher sea surface temperatures, more moisture in the clouds and rising sea levels, has amplified the destructive potential of hurricanes like Milton, turning them into intense storms the like of which has been seldom seen before.

Then one adds in two hurricanes hitting the same area in a fortnight. This is referred to as compound events or compound disasters. The community and land haven’t had time to recover from the first event before being struck again. Back-to-back hurricanes have been recorded before but, depending on the region, should only happen about once a century. It is now expected to happen more like every other year.

It doesn’t need to be like this and will get worse unless we stop using fossil fuels.

Article from CASA (Climate Action St Austell)