Hurricanes

Prof. Kerry Emanuel speaks with AP reporter Seth Borenstein about the upcoming hurricane season and his research showing an increase in Atlantic storms over the past 150 years.

Researchers from MIT and Princeton University have found that flooding events will become much more common by the end of the century, especially in New England, reports Evan Bush for NBC. “The researchers used computer modeling to stimulate thousands of ‘synthetic’ hurricanes toward the end of this century and in a scenario where greenhouse gas emissions are very high,” writes Bush.

Reuters reporter Andrea Januta writes that using computer models Prof. Kerry Emanuel has found that hurricanes in the North Atlantic have been growing in intensity and frequency as global temperatures have increasing. Emanuel “turned to computer simulations to recreate climate conditions for the last 150 years. Using three different climate models, he then scattered hurricane “seeds,” or conditions that could produce a storm, throughout the models to see how many seeds developed into storms,” writes Januta.

A new study by Prof. Kerry Emanuel examining the history of hurricanes finds that North Atlantic hurricanes are increasing in frequency and intensity, write Matthew Cappucci and Jason Samenow for The Washington Post. Emanuel “employed a novel approach to evaluate past storm activity,” they write. “Rather than relying on historical observations, which may have gaps, he performed climate modeling to reconstruct a continuous record of hurricane activity over the past 150 years from which to gauge trends.”

Prof. Kerry Emanuel discusses how climate change impacts the rapid intensification of storms like Hurricane Ida with Washington Post reporter Sarah Kaplan. “This is exactly the kind of thing we’re going to have to get used to as the planet warms," says Emanuel.

Prof. Kerry Emanuel speaks with New York Times reporter Veronica Perrey about the impact of climate change on hurricanes. “Potential intensity is going up,” says Emanuel. “We predicted it would go up 30 years ago, and the observations show it going up.”

Writing for The Guardian, Jeff Nesbit highlights Prof. Kerry Emanuel’s research showing that climate change is increasing the risk of extreme storms. Nesbit explains that Emanuel found that the risk for extreme storms in Tampa, Cairns, and the Persian Gulf increased by up to a factor of 14 over time as Earth’s climate changed.

Writing for NOVA Next, Nafisa Syed highlights how Prof. Kerry Emanuel is working on creating a new risk assessment paradigm for severe weather events like Hurricane Florence. Syed writes that Emanuel is trying to “understand what, for example, a 100-year storm is going to look like in the year 2100.”

Writing for HuffPost, Michael Windle and Tim Russell of the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics say the U.S. can better serve survivors of disasters like Hurricane Maria by offering more permanent opportunities to relocate. “Survivors should be able to choose between programs geared to returning and rebuilding, and those providing permanent relocation services,” urge the researchers.

NBC Mach’s Denise Chow discusses the upcoming hurricane season with Prof. Kerry Emanuel. “The sea level is going up, and it's almost certainly going to continue to go up,” explains Emanuel. “Even if the storms themselves don’t change, the surges are riding on an elevated sea level, and that makes them more dangerous.”

Meghna Chakrabarti of WBUR’s Radio Boston speaks to Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello ‘01 about the needs and the status of the island, plans to rebuild infrastructure, and how the new tax plan will affect Puerto Rico’s economy. Rossello was in Boston for the MIT Conference on the Resilient Reconstruction of the Caribbean. 

Boston Globe reporter David Abel reports on Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rosselló's ’01 visit to MIT for the Conference for the Resilient Construction of the Caribbean. The governor shared his frustration with proposed federal tax policies while expressing optimism about working with MIT on solutions for climate-resilient reconstruction after this fall’s hurricanes. 

Prof. Kerry Emanuel released a new paper that analyzes the impact of Hurricane Harvey, writes  Bloomberg’s Eric Roston. Emanuel found that “Harvey’s rainfall in Houston was ‘biblical’ in the sense that it likely occurred around once since the Old Testament was written.”

A recent study from Prof. Kerry Emanuel suggests that, due to climate change, “massive hurricanes like Harvey are expected to strike Houston and Texas with much greater frequency in the future than they do now,” writes Deborah Netburn for the Los Angeles Times.

Seth Borenstein of the Associated Press reports on a new study by Prof. Kerry Emanuel, which finds that hurricanes with extreme rainfall could become common as a result of global warming. Borenstein explains that the odds of 20 inches of rain occurring over a large area of Texas is “6 in 100 and by 2081, those odds will be 18 in 100.”