PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Ida was a record-breaking storm. It brought seven tornadoes in all, six of which in the Philadelphia area, as well as all-time-high flooding — and it is only midway through hurricane season.
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Intense tropical storms are becoming more frequent, and the more we see, “the more the alarm starts amplifying,” said Dr. David A. Robinson, climatologist for the state of New Jersey and Rutgers University geography professor.
Due to a warmer climate, tropical storms are picking up more water, which is leading to more extreme weather events. Robinson said it comes down to what’s known as the Clausius–Clapeyron relation: For every 1 degree Celsius, the atmosphere holds 7% more water.
“As the planet warms, the potential is there for the atmosphere to hold more moisture. It has to have a source for that moisture, and we are right next to the Atlantic, so we got it,” he explained. “With more available moisture, that can help produce more flooding rains.”
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And significantly, the climate has warmed by about 1 degree Celsius in the last century. Last year was the second-warmest year on record.
Not every storm is the same. Thunderstorms, for example, are clashes between warm and cold fronts, but tropical storms feed off of warm waters and atmospheric temperatures.
“Evidence is suggesting that these tropical systems, if not greater in number, are stronger in magnitude as they impact all the areas from the subtropics to up here in the middle latitudes,” said Robinson.
