The risk of damage increases substantially with sustained major hurricane winds and intense rainfall over many hours. ![]() At times, Dorian moved slower than most people walk along its devastating path over the Bahamas.Ī nightmare for any person, property, or living creatures and plants along a hurricane path is a slowly churning major category hurricane. In keeping with this trend, the globally-averaged ocean temperature for July 2019 was the highest departure from average (+0.84 degrees Celsius +1.51 degrees Fahrenheit) for July over the entire period of record (1880-2019). ![]() What’s contributing to these warmer sea surface temperatures? Over the past half century, the ocean has absorbed more than 90 percent of the excess warming caused by burning fossil fuels and overloading the atmosphere with carbon. Having sea surface temperatures above what hurricanes need to be fueled, combined with slow-moving speed, can allow a storm to maintain major hurricane status (category 3 or above) for a longer time period. This time, however, the sea surface temperatures were warm enough to add energy and power to the hurricane. Historically, the farther north a hurricane moves in the Atlantic the cooler the sea surface temperatures it encounters, which typically causes the storm to weaken. Having five such storms form over just the past four hurricane seasons is way beyond the average occurrence rate.Įven more remarkable is that Dorian broke the record for the strongest storm so far north in the Atlantic east of Florida. Here are five striking facts about this historic storm to date: Dorian is now the fifth hurricane to reach category five-the highest level possible on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale-over the past four hurricane seasons in the North Atlantic.īetween 19 there have been only 35 category 5 hurricanes in the North Atlantic. ![]() This record-breaking hurricane has been a powerful, slow-moving storm and now emergency response to damage is underway in the Bahamas, US Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico while the governors from Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia have all signed states of emergency. Tragic loss of life and property is the news after Hurricane Dorian’s devastating path over the Bahamas. Senior Climate Scientist, Director of Climate Science
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