Are back-to-back hurricanes a phenomenon or are they becoming the norm? A Princeton University study said they are becoming more routine, and the culprit is climate change. State Climatologist Barry Keim said it’s an interesting study and does make you think, especially in Louisiana…
“We’ve had Katrina and Rita in 2005, Gustav and Ike in 2008. We had Laura and Delta in 2020, Ida and Nicholas in 2021. It does seem like there’s something unusual going on there,” said Keim.
Keim said while the back-to-back hurricane patterns used to occur once every few decades, a trend of them happening more often has emerged.
“Once you get hit by a hurricane, you kind of think you’re off the hook for a while, but this study is suggesting otherwise and it’s kind of like being kicked when you’re down,” said Keim.
The primary reason this is possible, Keim said is because climate change is expected to turn more hurricanes into severe hurricanes, increasing both the size and reach of the hurricanes.
“So, we’re not necessarily going to get more storms going into the future, but the ones that we get are likely to be stronger, and they’re going to be bigger in scope and obviously have higher winds. So, they’re going to be bigger and worse going into the future,” said Keim.
With the likelihood of more major storms, that cover a greater area of the coastline, Keim said that increases the chances of following hurricanes impacting generally the same area.
To read the entire study click here.
Comments