Scientists study hurricanes using climate models and meteorological data collected since 1950 and found that climate change will slow down hurricanes in the future. They warned that this could result in storms hitting areas with strong winds and heavy rains for a longer period.
The climate models suggest that global warming would create strong currents that blow through mid-latitude areas and toward the poles which then results in 2 miles per hour slower movement along the US eastern seaboard and in Asia's populated areas.
Future global warming may lead to slower hurricanes
"This is the first study we are aware of that combines physical interpretation and robust modeling evidence to show that future anthropogenic warming could lead to a significant slowing of hurricane motion," said climatologist Gan Zhang from Princeton University led the analysis on the climate models and meteorological data.
From the collective data since 1950, the team gathered climate trends and selected six potential warming patterns for the global climate. Then, they came up with 90 possible futures after they tested 15 different possible initial conditions.
Zhang and his colleagues programmed the computers to assume a quadruple amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and a rise in the temperature of the planet above average by about 39 degrees Fahrenheit.
They chose these warming levels as they predicted that if humans do not take action to limit the use of fossil fuels, the Earth's temperature will reach at this point.
Zhang said that their simulations suggest that due to future anthropogenic warming a significant slowing of hurricane movement will be observed, particularly in areas in some populated mid-latitude regions.
MailOnline reported that their findings revealed that forward motion of the storms would slow down by about 2 miles per hour or 10% to 20% of the current typical speeds, at latitudes near Japan and New York City.
Hurricane Harvey
Zhang took the Hurricane Harvey as an example which caused catastrophic flooding, killed 68 people, and cost the area $125 billion in damages. The powerful storm barreled through the Atlantic and up into Texas and Louisiana in 2017.
Scientists found that one of the reasons why it caused a lot of damages to the area is because it moved slower and therefore stayed over the land longer. That is a point made by the climate models of Zhang.
"Since the occurrence of Hurricane Harvey, there has been a huge interest in the possibility that anthropogenic climate change has been contributing to a slow down in the movement of hurricanes," according to Suzana Camargo, the Marie Tharp Lamont Research Professor from the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University.
The rise in temperature causes westerlies- strong currents that blow through mid-latitude areas and toward the poles- and comes with weaker mid-latitude weather perturbations.
