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Climate Change Means Superstorms Less Likely, Hurricane Devastation More Likely

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Hurricane SandyDespite all the negative press climate change gets, according to new research, catastrophes like Superstorm Sandy may decrease, according to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Monday.

However, scientists do predict larger hurricanes and more frequent, intense storms – probably Category 3 and higher. New York and the eastern seaboard, however, will be spared of taking any more direct hits.

Researchers used climate models that take into account greenhouse gas emissions up to the year 2100 in order to determine if the atmospheric conditions in the future will be more or less likely to steer a storm like Sandy westwards into the Atlantic coast.

According to the model, occurrences like Sandy will become an even rarer event, and instead the changing jet stream and atmospheric conditions will push storms even farther out to sea. By all expert accounts, Sandy was a freak storm, an anomaly that usually only happens every 700 years or so.

But for all the good news that superstorms like Sandy will spare major metropolises along the eastern seaboard, there is growing evidence that hurricanes are becoming more and more intense and larger and larger. Stronger winds, heavier rainfall, and greater paths of devastation are all side effects of climate change.

So the findings are a mixed bag. Yes, freak superstorms like Sandy will wreak havoc on the east coast less frequently, but devastation from hurricanes will increase.

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1 COMMENT

  1. What a bunch of poppycock. You can change the name of something but it does not change the thing. Sandy was a hurricane. You can call it a super storm or what ever makes you feel better but it does not change anything except how the funds are allocated. What a messed up world. First all the models and predictions are based upon the carbon put into the atmosphere but the TRUTH is this carbon does not stay in the air. Every living thing on this planet is carbon based, so this carbon is converted into plants and animals. Carbon does not remain in the air. Want to do a story with real facts investigate how much carbon is sequestered on a yearly basis. It will never happen because it does not fit the agenda. Without presenting both sides where people can see and debate the issue you make void any argument based on only one point of view. There are lots of so called scientific studies and predictions but if you look only at the factors you want to use you have already decided the outcome. That’s not science that manipulation of the facts.

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