On the latest hurricane from NYT
Quote:
While prediction of storm track has grown increasingly accurate, the ability to predict rapid intensification has lagged somewhat, said Haiyan Jiang, an associate professor in the Department of Earth and Environment at Florida International University. “This storm is very special,” she said. “It has gone through three rapid intensifications” in its brief lifetime, despite pronounced wind shear in the region that might have been expected to weaken the storm.
“The shear was high, so nobody expected it was going to intensify this rapidly,” Dr. Jiang said.
Part of the explanation is warmer-than-average waters in the Gulf of Mexico, in some places by some 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, or two degrees Celsius. “One to two degrees is a big deal,” she said.
Warmer sea surface temperatures, while subject to natural variation, are consistent with the effects of climate change.
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I’m fairly surprised at how poorly understood this is by so many.
From the same article
Quote:
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The rapid intensification of the storm, which means growing in wind speed by 35 miles per hour over a 24-hour period, came as a surprise, he noted — which means “There’s still stuff we don’t know about hurricanes.”
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Uh, hot water moves more. That’s pretty much the story. The challenge now is accepting that the **** you learned in school affects things.