Hurricane Matthew's Strength Is Yet Another Climate Change Indicator

Hurricane Matthew, a record-shattering storm that is unusual for October, is a reminder of climate change’s potential to turn seasonal weather events into extreme, year-round threats.  Matthew, which meteorologists downgraded from a rare Category 5 to a Katrina-magnitude Category 3 on Wednesday, could make landfall in southeast Florida as early as Thursday, and threatens northeast Florida and the coasts of Georgia and South Carolina through Saturday. The storm has already claimed at least 11 lives in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Colombia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The storm has surpassed several milestones as one of the strongest, longest-lasting hurricanes of its kind on record. But on top of that, scientists note, it’s atypical for this time of year.  Matthew is the only hurricane of this strength to persist this many October days since 1963, noted Colorado State University meteorologist Philip Klotzbach, an expert in Atlantic hurricane forecasts.  Hurricane #Matthew has now been a major hurricane longer in October than any other Atlantic hurricane in over 50 years (Flora-1963). pic.twitter.com/Hn30XHOgsj— Philip Klotzbach (@philklotzbach) October 5, 2016 If it makes landfall in Florida as expected, he also noted, it will be the first major hurricane to do so in October since 1950.  The only major hurricane on record to make October landfall along the east coast of Florida was Hurricane King (1950). #Mat...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - Category: Science Source Type: news