I'm confused as to the climate change discussion. My understanding is that while it's not clear if the overall number of hurricanes will increase because of global warming, the data regarding the relationship and likely increase of more intense hurricanes, with more rainfall, and bigger storm surges, due global warming/climate change is more clear.
I don't really get the push back to linking this storm to global warming in that context.
Hurricanes are essentially a phenomena of temperature differential (warm water mixed with atmospheric disturbance evaporates rapidly cools and forms convection circuits) . The warmer the water and surface temp the more potential energy in the hurricane (there's also issues about the increased amount of moisture the hurricane can carry). As the sea's become more laden with CO2 they can absorb more heat and the surface temps become higher. This doesn't necessarily mean more hurricanes or even individual hurricanes being stronger there's just a lot more potential devastating hurricane either terms of potential energy or the amount of moisture they'll dump.
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