None of the numbers in his spreadsheets could prepare NASA scientist Tim Hall for the image of Dorian on his computer screen this week
The hurricane has matched or broken records for its intensity and for its creeping pace over the Bahamas. But it also fits a trend: Dorian's appearance made 2019 the fourth straight year in which a Category 5 hurricane formed in the Atlantic - the longest such streak on record.
The link between rapid intensification and climate change is robust, said Jennifer Francis, an atmospheric scientist at Woods Hole Research Centre. Heat in the ocean is a hurricane's primary source of fuel, and the world's oceans have absorbed more than 90 per cent of the warming of the past 50 years, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
"When that water vapor condenses into cloud droplets, it releases a lot of heat into the atmosphere and that's what a hurricane feeds off of," Francis said. "These factors are very clearly contributing to the storms we've been seeing lately." In stalling events, "you have longer time for the wind to build up that wall of water for the surge and you just get more and more accumulated rain on the same region," Hall said."That was the catastrophe of Harvey," he added, referring to the hurricane that dumped more than 1.5 metres of rain over Texas in 2017. Hurricanes Dorian and Florence, the latter of which deluged the Carolinas last year, also fit this pattern.
United Kingdom Latest News, United Kingdom Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Hurricane Dorian rakes US coastHurricane Dorian raked the Carolina coast with howling winds and sideways rain, knocking out power to more than 200,000 properties.
Read more »
The aftermath of Hurricane Dorian: heartbreaking photos show devastationShocking new images show destroyed property, flattened communities and severe flooding in the Bahamas after HurricaneDorain tore through, damaging everything in its path.
Read more »
Hurricane Dorian rips through the Carolinas after devastating the Bahamas | Sky News AustraliaHurricane Dorian is continuing up the US coast near Charleston and South Carolina after devastating the Bahamas. \n\nDorian - now a category two storm - killed at least 23 people in the Bahamas but authorities expect that number to rise. \n\nAs many as 13,000 homes were destroyed or severely damaged after the nation was pounded by severe winds.
Read more »
Hurricane Dorian makes landfall in US as it lashes North Carolina's Outer BanksHurricane Dorian has made landfall on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, hitting the beach resort area with powerful winds and battering waves days after reducing parts of the Bahamas to rubble.
Read more »
A storm chaser went silent as Dorian hit. He reemerged with a harrowing story'This is gonna get ugly,' Josh Morgerman tweeted shortly before Hurricane Dorian pummelled the Bahamas. Two days later, he emerged with a distressing account of what happened to the island nation.
Read more »