Climate Change Supercharges Hurricane Melissa, Causing Catastrophic Damage Across Caribbean

A devastating hurricane named Melissa recently swept through the Caribbean, leaving dozens dead and causing billions in damage across Jamaica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and the Bahamas. While initially dubbed the "Storm of the Century," experts warn that such extreme weather events are becoming the new normal due to the effects of climate change.

According to a report by the Canadian project Deep Sky, the frequency of extreme hurricane rainfall has jumped by 300% over the last four decades. Severe hurricane rainfall that used to occur only once every 100 years is now expected every 25 years. "These are no longer rare events," the report cautioned. "They will happen with greater frequency and severity. It's our new normal."

Researchers have found that Melissa was 10% stronger and four times more likely to occur due to global warming. In a cooler world, a hurricane of Melissa's magnitude would have made landfall only once every 8,000 years, but with 1.3°C of warming, it is now expected once every 1,700 years. Scientists also estimate that the conditions that allowed Melissa to rapidly intensify from a category 4 to 5 storm in just 24 hours were made 500 to 800 times more likely by human-caused climate change.