On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “New Day,” Washington Post Weather Editor Jason Samenow argued that global warming cause some increase in Hurricane Harvey’s intensity.
Samenow said, “If we look back at the temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico, back in the winter, when I wrote that story, it was 70 — the water temperature in the Gulf of Mexico never fell below 73 degrees. Texas had its warmest winter. Louisiana had its warmest winter on record. Galveston had record highs on a quarter of their days back last winter. And New Orleans also had its warmest February on record. So, there was just abnormal warmth in the Gulf Coast states back in the winter. The warm water persisted in the Gulf of Mexico leading up to Hurricane Harvey. And you need that fuel. You need that warm water in the Gulf of Mexico to power these storms, and we saw that explosive intensification of Harvey as it approached the Texas coast. So, obviously, the warm water spurred by climate change played a role here. Now, of course there’s natural variability. We’ve had hurricanes hit the Gulf Coast for decades. So, I think there’s a combination. I think global warming intensified the storm some. But obviously, there have always been these storms, and there will continue to be these storms moving in the future.”
He added, “I think if you look at all the evidence which is out there and if you look at all the studies and the scientific literature, there’s a clear and unambiguous signal that there’s an anthropogenic component to this warming. … And we’re just going to see that human signal on the climate system continue to grow as long as we increase greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere.”
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