Climate change is no longer a distant threat—it's making natural disasters more intense and destructive. Hurricane Milton, which recently battered Florida, serves as a stark example.
Experts from the World Weather Attribution (WWA) group reported that human-induced climate change made Hurricane Milton wetter and windier. \"Heavy one-day rainfall events such as the one associated with Milton are 20-30 percent more intense and about twice as likely in today's climate,\" the WWA group stated in their report.
This increase in rainfall not only led to more flooding but also amplified the hurricane's wind strength by approximately 10 percent. What would have been a Category 2 storm escalated to a more destructive Category 3 on the five-point scale, according to the report.
The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) warns that with every one-step increase in a hurricane's category, the risk of damage multiplies by four. This means that the intensification caused by climate change significantly heightens the potential for destruction.
As the world grapples with the realities of a changing climate, the case of Hurricane Milton underscores the urgent need for sustainable practices and proactive measures to mitigate the growing power of such natural disasters.
Reference(s):
cgtn.com
