Current:Home > ScamsClimate change makes Typhoon Mawar more dangerous -RiskWatch
Climate change makes Typhoon Mawar more dangerous
View
Date:2025-04-18 06:33:38
Typhoon Mawar is barreling toward the United States territory of Guam. It is pushing a wall of water in front of it, and packs winds powerful enough to snap power poles and uproot trees.
Climate change makes storms like Mawar more likely.
The ocean soaks up most of the extra heat that is trapped near the Earth's surface by human emissions of greenhouse gasses. The warmer ocean waters are fuel for storms, helping them get large and powerful like Mawar. As the storm approached Guam and the Mariana Islands on Tuesday, the National Weather Service described Mawar as a "triple threat" with powerful winds, torrential rain and "life-threatening storm surge."
Mawar has rapidly gained strength as it moves toward land. In just one day, it went from a Category 1 storm, with winds that might remove a few shingles, to a Category 4 storm with winds powerful enough to tear away roofs entirely.
Such rapid intensification is increasingly common. And storms that gain strength quickly can be extremely dangerous because there is less time to warn people in harm's way. Last year, Hurricane Ian ballooned into a devastatingly powerful storm shortly before hitting Florida. In 2021, Hurricane Ida gained strength right before making landfall in Louisiana.
Typhoons are the same thing as hurricanes and cyclones. Different regions of the world use different words for the spinning storms.
Climate change may make rapid intensification more likely
Scientists are actively studying the connection between human-caused climate change and rapid intensification of cyclones worldwide.
Because heat is fuel for hurricanes, it makes sense that persistently warm water at the surface of the ocean would help fuel large, powerful storms. But wind conditions also affect how quickly a storm grows in strength, which makes it more difficult for scientists to pinpoint the effects of climate change on the formation of any one storm, and to predict long-term trends.
Still, a growing body of research suggests that storms are more likely to rapidly grow in strength as the Earth heats up. A 2019 study found that storms that form in the Atlantic are more likely to get powerful very quickly as the Earth heats up. A 2020 study found a similar trend in the Pacific.
Typhoon Mawar moved over abnormally warm water in the Pacific as it intensified. Oceans around the world are experiencing record-breaking temperatures this year.
Climate change makes flooding more likely, and more dangerous
As dangerous as Typhoon Mawar's winds will be, it is water that poses the largest risk. Storm surge can scour the land, removing buildings, vegetation and everything else in its path.
As Mawar's outer bands lashed Guam on Wednesday local time, forecasters predicted between 6 and 10 feet of storm surge, or even higher water if the eye of the storm passes very close to land. That would cause life-threatening flooding.
On top of that, forecasters are warning that Mawar will bring torrential rain of up to 20 inches, which would cause flash flooding farther inland.
Climate change makes both storm surge and inland flooding more severe. Storm surge is more dangerous because of sea level rise. The water along the coast is higher than it was in the past, which exacerbates the damage from storm surge. Guam and the Mariana Islands are especially vulnerable to rising seas because they are low-lying island territories.
And a hotter Earth also makes torrential rain more likely, because a warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture. When a storm hits land, all that water vapor falls as rain. Research has already shown that past storms dropped more rain because of climate change.
veryGood! (182)
Related
- Taylor Swift Eras Archive site launches on singer's 35th birthday. What is it?
- Hawaii wildfire victims made it just blocks before becoming trapped by flames, report says
- Lawsuit alleges plot to run sham candidate so DeSantis appointee can win election
- Horoscopes Today, September 13, 2024
- Friday the 13th luck? 13 past Mega Millions jackpot wins in December. See top 10 lottery prizes
- Ex-NYC federal building guard gets 5-year sentence in charge related to sex assault of asylum seeker
- What Bachelorette Jenn Tran and Devin Strader Have Revealed About the Thorny Details of Their Breakup
- Best Nordstrom Rack’s Clearance Sale Deals Under $50 - Free People, Sorel, Levi's & More, Starting at $9
- Stamford Road collision sends motorcyclist flying; driver arrested
- The Daily Money: Weird things found in hotel rooms
Ranking
- The Super Bowl could end in a 'three
- Georgia’s lieutenant governor won’t be charged in 2020 election interference case
- Gunman says he heard ‘killing voices’ before Colorado supermarket shooting
- Massachusetts police recruit dies after a medical crisis during training exercise
- South Korea's acting president moves to reassure allies, calm markets after Yoon impeachment
- 6 teenage baseball players who took plea deals in South Dakota rape case sentenced
- How to watch and stream the 76th annual Emmy Awards
- Lil Tay's Account Says She's Been Diagnosed With a Heart Tumor One Year After Death Hoax
Recommendation
Questlove charts 50 years of SNL musical hits (and misses)
Georgia’s governor says a program to ease college admission is boosting enrollment
Congo court sentences 3 Americans and 34 others to death on coup charges
Officers’ reports on fatal Tyre Nichols beating omitted punches and kicks, lieutenant testifies
Selena Gomez's "Weird Uncles" Steve Martin and Martin Short React to Her Engagement
Oregon DMV mistakenly registered more than 300 non-citizens to vote since 2021
Things to know about about the deadly wildfire that destroyed the Maui town of Lahaina
Congo court sentences 3 Americans and 34 others to death on coup charges