USA TODAY US Edition

Hurricane Harvey’s record rain tied directly to warmer Gulf

- Doyle Rice

Record warm water in the Gulf of Mexico fueled the historic rainfall from Hurricane Harvey last August, according to a study that found man-made climate change was partly to blame.

More than 5 feet of rain from Harvey in southeast Texas triggered flooding that killed 89 people, caused more than $126 billion in damage, displaced more than 30,000 people and damaged or destroyed more than 200,000 homes and businesses.

The heat in the Gulf last August, just before Hurricane Harvey, was the highest ever recorded, scientists said.

“We show, for the first time, that the volume of rain over land correspond­s to the amount of water evaporated from the unusually warm ocean,” said lead author Kevin Trenberth of the National Center for Atmospheri­c Research. Seawater in the Gulf was nearly 86 degrees, which helped boost Harvey’s rainfall.

In other words, according to The Washington Post’s Capital Weather Gang, the study found that the amount of heat stored in the ocean is directly related to how much rain a storm can unload. Harvey’s rain was the most a single storm had dumped on the USA in recorded history.

“Warmer oceans increased the risk of greater hurricane intensity and duration,” Trenberth said. One of the main ingredient­s in hurricane formation is seawater of at least 80 degrees.

“Harvey could not have produced so much rain without human-induced climate change,” the study said.

More troubling is that the record warm water could be a harbinger of future storms. “As climate change continues to heat the oceans, we can expect more supercharg­ed storms like Harvey,” Trenberth said.

“Warmer oceans increased the risk of greater hurricane intensity and duration.” Kevin Trenberth National Center for Atmospheri­c Research

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