Hurricanes decreasing everywhere but North Atlantic, study finds

Alejandra O'Connell-Domenech | June 28, 2022
·2 min read
6

Story at a glance

  • A new study published in the journal Nature Climate Change found that the number of tropical cyclones has gone down over the past century everywhere except the North Atlantic.

  • Tropical cyclones like hurricanes and typhoons have actually increased in the North Atlantic since the 1960s.

  • While the frequency of tropical cyclones might be declining, future weather events like hurricanes and tropical storms are still a cause for concern.

Scientists have discovered the number of global tropical storms has gone down over the past century everywhere except in the North Atlantic.

A study recently published in the journal Nature Climate Change, found that typhoons, tropical storms and hurricanes — referred to collectively as tropical cyclones—have decreased by about 13 percent during the 20th century.

Study crafters found an even steeper decline in the number of tropical storms after 1950, except for in the North Atlantic where activity initially declined since 1850 but then began to go up in the 1960s. 

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But while there is an almost global trend downward in the number of tropical cyclones that form, future cyclones will most likely be more destructive.

Multiple studies have shown that the increasing intensity of hurricanes and cyclones is due to rising sea levels and warming waters caused by climate change.

And as a result, one study claims that intense hurricanes and typhoons, a category 3 or higher, could double by the year 2050.

Tropical cyclones are the costliest natural disasters in the United States, with hurricanes repeatedly topping lists of most expensive climate-related catastrophes in the country.

Hurricane Katriana alone, which struck Louisianna and other parts of the Gulf Coast in 2005, killed over 1,800 people and cost roughly $161 billion in damage, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Between 2019 and 2021, there were 56 weather and climate disasters that cost more than $1 billion in damages, according to the agency.

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