“There is little you can do to stop a tornado, a hurricane, or a cancer diagnosis from changing your life in an instant.”
Ted Lieu, Member of Congress
An extra bang
As I write this, hurricane Beryl is cutting a path of destruction across the Caribbean, with a potential US landfall in Texas. 4th of July came with an extra bang this year: the earliest category 5 Atlantic hurricane ever recorded.
Climate change is making hurricanes (as well as typhoons and cyclones) stronger, helping them accelerate more quickly, and causing them to dump more rain. This summer’s hurricane forecast is harrowing. We’re getting an early start, and the conditions will become more favorable for storms as the summer progresses.
The chart above tracks average ocean surface temperatures since 1981. The yellow line represents 2023 and the solid black line is 2024 year-to-date. Although the temperatures have been slowly rising over the past several years, the jump over the past two has been stunning.
What can we do?
If the topic of hurricane Beryl comes up when you are with friends or family this weekend, take the chance to help others connect the dots to climate change.
Here are a few things you can point out:
- The ocean absorbs about 90% of the excess heat caused by climate change
- Ocean temperatures have been steadily rising for years, with a significant spike over the last two
- Warm ocean water fuels hurricanes
- Climate change is causing storms to move more slowly and dump more rain
- Rising sea levels make storm surges worse
- This is the earliest EVER category 5 Atlantic hurricane
While there is nothing any of us can do to slow Beryl down, or to minimize hurricanes this summer, we can do something about the longer-term outlook. Bringing global air and water temperature back into check is the long game. Sadly, if the planet continues to warm, we can expect more extreme weather events. Until we stop burning, will keep warming.
Let’s do something about climate change. Learn about it. Think about it. Talk about it.