Hawaii may be exposed to big hurricanes

A new study shows that Hawaii may experience mega hurricanes over the next 75-90 years. These hurricanes are powered by a continuing warming climate, not just frequent air stream change.

The conclusions of the study are published by the hurricanes scientific journal Nature Climate Change. According to the study although it is incredible rare that hurricanes hit Hawaii, that’s all going to change as the ocean’s surface temperature shift upward.

“Computer models based on global warming scenarios generally project a decrease in tropical cyclones worldwide, but this may not be what will happen with local communities.” A author said.

Hawaii is one such local community where climate change is expected to hit hard. “From 1979 to 2003, both observational records and our model document that only every four years on average did a tropical cyclone come near Hawaii,” Murakami said. “Our projections for the end of this century show a two-to-three-fold increase for this region.”

To make matters worse, those storms are expected to be bigger, more destructive and slower-moving than the storms of the last century, amplified by the warming climate. Researchers warned that changes in the atmosphere’s composition, driven by human activity increasing the amount of CO2 in the air, will result in wholly new moisture patterns and a shift in the jet stream that causes mega storms to drift toward the Hawaiian islands.