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IT SEEMS storms are becoming stronger and deadlier. After super typhoon Yolanda in the Philippines, there’s now Hurricane Harvey in Texas, United States of America and Typhoon Hato in Hong Kong. Typhoon Hato, locally named “Isang,” actually hit the northernmost part of the Philippines and caused continuous rains in the rest of the country.
According to news reports, Hurricane Harvey could rank among the top costliest storms in the USA in terms of overall damage. Moody’s said total losses from Hurricane Harvey will come in between $45 billion and $65 billion, with overall US economic losses between $6 billion and $10 billion.
Superstorm Sandy in 2012 cost $73 billion in today’s dollars, ranking second-most-costly behind Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which cost a massive $118 billion. Hurricane Harvey was a Category 4 hurricane which made landfall on August 25. It left behind a trail of extreme destruction in Rockport, Texas, USA. It was the most intense hurricane to make landfall in the United States since Charley in 2004.
In Hong Kong and Macau, Typhoon Hato battered skyscrapers, flooded streets and forced thousands to flee to higher grounds. Videos posted on social media showed trucks being overturned and people being carried away by strong winds.
Hato was given a typhoon signal 10, only the third time a storm of such power has hit the Hong Kong in the past 20 years. The Number 10 signal has been hoisted only 14 times since 1946, or once every 72 storms, according to the Hong Kong Observatory.
The last time it went up was for Typhoon Vicente in 2012. Are these strong typhoons caused by climate change? It probably made them worse.
With global warming, we have warmer seas which evaporate more quickly. Warmer air holds more water vapor. So, as temperatures rise around the world, the skies store more moisture and dump it more intensely.
According to the Earth Observatory of Nasa, there is evidence that the winds of some storms may be changing.
A study based on more than two decades of satellite altimeter data (measuring sea surface height) showed that hurricanes intensify significantly faster now than they did 25 years ago.
Specifically, researchers found that storms attain Category 3 wind speeds nearly nine hours faster than they did in the 1980s.
Another satellite-based study found that global wind speeds had increased by an average of five percent over the past two decades. There is also evidence that extra water vapor in the atmosphere is making storms wetter.
During the past 25 years, satellites have measured a four percent rise in water vapor in the air column. In groundbased records, about 76 percent of weather stations in the United States have seen increases in extreme precipitation since 1948.
One analysis found that extreme downpours are happening 30 percent more often. Another study found that the largest storms now produce 10 percent more precipitation. With this scenario, let’s prepare for stronger and wetter storms.