Why was Hurricane Helene so bad? Fossil fuel pollution

[riversedge]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by Omaha Steve (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).

Source: cnn





10 hr 37 min ago Angela Fritz, CNN Senior Weather & Climate Editor


Hurricane Helene was bound to be a major disaster.

The atmosphere, warmed by more than a century of fossil fuel pollution, is hotter now than it was in pre-industrial times. That means it can hold more moisture, which wrings out as torrential rain in storms like Helene, triggering deadly flooding not just in Florida but across the Southeast.

Helene also rapidly intensified twice before it reached Florida, because the water in the Gulf of Mexico is off-the-charts warm — much like the rest of the Atlantic. More than 90% of warming around the globe over the past 50 years has taken place in the oceans, and it’s making storms more likely to undergo these rapid intensification cycles.

Sea levels in Florida are as much as 8 inches higher than they were in 1950. The speed of that rise is increasing too. This translates to higher storm surge.

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“For decades now, scientists have been warning us that extreme weather events will be exacerbated by this blanket of carbon pollution we’ve been wrapping around our planet,” said Katharine Hayhoe, chief scientist at the Nature Conservancy........................................

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There have now been eight Category 4 or 5 hurricane landfalls on US soil in the past eight years.

That’s as many as the entire 57 years that came before it.


Read more: https://www.cnn.com/weather/live-news/hurricane-helene-florida-georgia-09-27-24#cm1ks4uqd00003b6sbai9rpvq

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(CSU/CIRA & NOAA)

[Kaleva]

1. It's time to prepare for the worst is coming sooner then earlier predicted

For some, that may mean moving.

[Elessar Zappa]

3. I don't even know if we're going to be able to stop the worst case scenario

from happening, which is 4 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times.

[cstanleytech]

2. If I recall correctly and I could be wrong the earth was already heating.

As in we are still in the process of coming out of one of it's cold phases of which our pollution is speeding is mainly just speeding it up.
As far as pollution itself? It's worrisome especially what it's doing to what lives in the ocean, some of which we depend on for that thing called oxygen.

Edit: Back to lurking as I've only so much power left and it might be 2 or 3 weeks before we get it back.

[Omaha Steve]

4. AFTER a review by forum hosts LOCKING

This is analysis.

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