Climate change makes hurricanes like Irene more destructive | Grist: ""Owing to higher SSTs [sea surface temperatures] from human activities, the increased water vapor in the atmosphere leads to 5 to 10 percent more rainfall and increases the risk of flooding," as NCAR senior scientist Kevin Trenberth put it in an email to me Saturday.
"However, because water vapor and higher ocean temperatures help fuel the storm, it is likely to be more intense and bigger as well," Trenberth writes.
On the third point, warming also extends the range of warm SSTs, which can help sustain the strength of a hurricane as it steers on a northerly track. As meteorologist and former hurricane hunter Jeff Masters has explained:"
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