New Research Details How Climate Change Amplified Melissa's Impacts

It has been over two weeks since Hurricane Melissa roared through the eastern Caribbean, bringing mass destruction to parts of Cuba, Haiti, and Jamaica. Now that the acute crisis is waning, researchers are examining to what degree the historic storm was influenced by climate change. Here is what scientists are saying about the impact of climate change on Hurricane Melissa.

Study Demonstrates How Climate Change Influenced Hurricane Melissa

A recent study out of the World Weather Attribution (WWA) dives into how Melissa was amplified by climate change. The WWA study specifically compared the chances of Melissa's impacts with today's climate versus the cooler temperatures of a pre-industrial climate. It should be noted that today's temperatures average 1.3 degrees Celsius warmer than the pre-industrial age.

The WWA detailed that rainfall amounts over a period of five days are approximately 30% more intense than they would have been decades ago. Looking at eastern Cuba specifically, today's climate is responsible for about a 50% increase in heavy rainfall.