Climate Change Added 18 mph to Hurricane Wind Speeds over Past 5 Years

High ocean temperatures caused by global warming boosted maximum intensities for most storms between 2019 and 2023, as well as for every 2024 hurricane.

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Because of climate change, maximum wind speeds generated by 84% of Atlantic hurricanes between 2019 and 2023 intensified by an average of 18 miles per hour, according to a Climate Central study published today in Environmental Research: Climate. Fueled by sea surface temperatures made hotter by global warming, 30 hurricanes in the study reached intensities roughly one category higher on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale compared to their expected strength in an environment without the influence of human-caused climate change. he study applied sea surface temperature attribution science to established methods for calculating their contribution to tropical cyclone intensity. The study identified three storms that stren