Episode Details

Meteorology Matters looks at how Climate change significantly intensified the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season. Multiple reports, including one from Climate Central and a peer-reviewed study in Environmental Research: Climate, confirm that human-caused ocean warming increased the wind speeds of all eleven hurricanes. This resulted in seven hurricanes being upgraded to higher Saffir-Simpson categories and two tropical storms becoming hurricanes. The increased intensity led to substantial damage and economic losses, with climate change attributed to a significant portion of the damage caused by Hurricanes Helene and Milton. A separate analysis by a hurricane expert highlights the unusually active 2024 season, noting record-breaking ocean temperatures and the occurrence of three simultaneous hurricanes in October.