Climate change provided high octane fuel for Hurricane Michael
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Sometimes connecting climate change to a specific weather event is difficult. With Hurricane Michael, it’s not.
The science is easy: Earth’s waters are getting warmer due to an increasing global temperature, and warmer waters fuel hurricanes.
Water temperatures in the far northern Gulf of Mexico were 3 to 5 degrees Fahrenheit higher than normal for this time of year. Instead of water temperatures being near 80, they were in the mid-80s as Michael moved over the Gulf and approached the Florida coast.
That’s a huge difference. Even a small temperature bump in the ocean causes a tremendous addition of energetic heat and water vapor to a storm, meaning higher wind speeds and more storm surge. All other things being equal, a storm hovering above 85-degree water will become much stronger than a storm hovering above 80-degree water.
Since the mid-1900s, Tropical Atlantic water temperatures have increased by 1 to 2 degrees Fahrenheit, and more in some spots.
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