Study Finds Climate Change Added More Rain to Hurricane Ian
2022-10-01
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1Hurricane Ian is heading toward the American state of South Carolina.
2The powerful ocean storm has already left behind a path of destruction, from Florida to the island nation of Cuba.
3In Cuba, the hurricane knocked out electricity across the whole island on Tuesday.
4Two days later, only 10 percent of power in the capital city of Havana was repaired.
5Officials said at least three people died from the storm.
6Officials still do not know the full extent of the damage.
7The hurricane became even stronger as it traveled across the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico toward Florida.
8There, the storm destroyed properties, trapped people in flooded areas and knocked out power to 2.6 million homes and businesses.
9At least six people in the state died from the storm.
10U.S. President Joe Biden said Thursday that Ian may be the "deadliest hurricane in Florida's history."
11Immediately after the storm, scientists released a study saying that climate change might have added at least 10 percent more rain to the hurricane.
12The study compared actual rainfall during Hurricane Ian to 20 different computer models of storms that are similar in size and strength.
13The models were created in an environment with no human-caused climate change.
14"The real storm was 10 percent wetter than the storm that might have been," said Michael Wehner of Lawrence Berkeley National Lab.
15The climate scientist is the study's co-writer.
16The latest study has not yet been examined by outside scientists.
17Wehner and atmospheric scientist Kevin Reed published a study in Nature Communications earlier this year looking at the hurricanes of 2020.
18They found that during the hurricanes' rainiest three-hour periods, they were more than 10 percent wetter than in a world without greenhouse gases trapping heat.
19Wehner and Reed applied the same scientifically accepted method to study Hurricane Ian.
20A long-time rule of physics is that for every extra degree Celsius of warmth, the air in the atmosphere can hold 7 percent more water.
21This week the Gulf of Mexico was 0.8 degrees warmer than normal, which should have meant about 5 percent more rain.
22The study found Ian dropped two times the expected amount, or 10 percent more rain in Florida.
23Reed said 10 percent may not sound like a lot.
24But that 10 percent means an additional 5 centimeters of rain fell in addition to the 50 centimeters that came down in Florida.
25Kerry Emanuel is a hurricane researcher from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
26He said that, in general, a warmer world does make storms rainier.
27But he said he wants to avoid coming to conclusions about individual storms.
28"This business above very, very heavy rain is something we've expected to see because of climate change," Emanuel said.
29"We'll see more storms like Ian."
30I'm Dorothy Gundy.
1Hurricane Ian is heading toward the American state of South Carolina. The powerful ocean storm has already left behind a path of destruction, from Florida to the island nation of Cuba. 2In Cuba, the hurricane knocked out electricity across the whole island on Tuesday. Two days later, only 10 percent of power in the capital city of Havana was repaired. Officials said at least three people died from the storm. Officials still do not know the full extent of the damage. 3The hurricane became even stronger as it traveled across the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico toward Florida. There, the storm destroyed properties, trapped people in flooded areas and knocked out power to 2.6 million homes and businesses. 4At least six people in the state died from the storm. U.S. President Joe Biden said Thursday that Ian may be the "deadliest hurricane in Florida's history." 5Climate change added more rain 6Immediately after the storm, scientists released a study saying that climate change might have added at least 10 percent more rain to the hurricane. 7The study compared actual rainfall during Hurricane Ian to 20 different computer models of storms that are similar in size and strength. The models were created in an environment with no human-caused climate change. 8"The real storm was 10 percent wetter than the storm that might have been," said Michael Wehner of Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. The climate scientist is the study's co-writer. 9The latest study has not yet been examined by outside scientists. 10Wehner and atmospheric scientist Kevin Reed published a study in Nature Communications earlier this year looking at the hurricanes of 2020. They found that during the hurricanes' rainiest three-hour periods, they were more than 10 percent wetter than in a world without greenhouse gases trapping heat. Wehner and Reed applied the same scientifically accepted method to study Hurricane Ian. 11A long-time rule of physics is that for every extra degree Celsius of warmth, the air in the atmosphere can hold 7 percent more water. This week the Gulf of Mexico was 0.8 degrees warmer than normal, which should have meant about 5 percent more rain. 12The study found Ian dropped two times the expected amount, or 10 percent more rain in Florida. Reed said 10 percent may not sound like a lot. But that 10 percent means an additional 5 centimeters of rain fell in addition to the 50 centimeters that came down in Florida. 13Kerry Emanuel is a hurricane researcher from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He said that, in general, a warmer world does make storms rainier. But he said he wants to avoid coming to conclusions about individual storms. 14"This business above very, very heavy rain is something we've expected to see because of climate change," Emanuel said. "We'll see more storms like Ian." 15I'm Dorothy Gundy. 16Seth Borenstein reported this story for The Associated Press. Hai Do adapted the story for Learning English. 17_______________________________________________________________________ 18Words in This Story 19knock out - v. to make useless 20extent - n. used to indicate the degree to which something happens