In a report published yesterday, scientists from the World Weather Attribution (WWA) group stated that climate change is making the Philippines more vulnerable to tropical storms, with rising temperatures increasing the risk of deadly storms by double.
According to WWA scientists, an organization that specializes in assessing the role of climate change in extreme weather patterns globally, the likelihood of forming four unprecedented storms around the Philippines last month was over 70%, attributed to a global temperature increase of 1.3 degrees Celsius.
Typhoon Man-Yi causing flooding in Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija, Philippines. (Photo: Reuters).
While scientists remain cautious about attributing individual weather events to climate change, there is a consensus that warming oceans are increasing rainfall and wind speeds globally.
The WWA stated: “Climate change has nearly doubled the likelihood of storm formation and occurrence.“
Hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated and over 170 have died in a series of six unprecedented tropical storms that struck the Philippines in October and November, raising concerns that storm activity is being significantly driven by rising sea surface temperatures.
Ben Clarke, a weather researcher at the Royal Holloway, University of London, and one of the report’s authors, remarked: “These storms are likely to strengthen and make landfall in the Philippines with greater intensity than usual.“
Ben Clarke further noted that if temperatures rise by 2.6 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels, the likelihood of similar storms occurring would be over 40% higher than it is today.
An analysis published last month by U.S. weather researchers at Climate Central indicated that storms have significantly intensified due to record-high ocean temperatures, with wind speeds increasing by an additional 29 km/h.
Scientists believe that warmer ocean temperatures are enhancing tropical storms by increasing evaporation rates. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change stated in its latest assessment that there is a “high confidence” that global warming will lead to more intense storms.
