Tropical Storm Nicole, which struck the Florida coast on Thursday, has been strengthened by climate change. Will Wade of Bloomberg claimed this on Wednesday.
Climate change is making Tropical storm Nicole stronger and more bizarre.
Wade then refers to hurricane scientist Jeff Masters to support his argument that such tropical storms or hurricanes are very rare in November. “As it heads towards Florida’s east coast,” Nicole is strengthening from Atlantic Ocean waters that are approximately 2 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than normal, according to Jeff Masters (a Yale Climate Connections meteorologist and author).
Since 1851, only 13 hurricanes or tropical storms have made a contiguous U.S. Landfall in November or Dec. – an average of one every 13 year. Nicole is expected to be the 14th.https://t.co/VaFl57C2Zc
— Jeff Masters (@DrJeffMasters), November 7, 2022
It is possible that Nicole is a sign of climate change, as more November hurricanes have made landfall along the U.S. coast. Wade didn’t check when such an event had occurred before, which is a problem. Scientific American provided the answer on Wednesday: “How Rare are November Hurricanes?”
Truchelut states that November storms that have hit the U.S. historically have been more likely to hit Florida, as they are most common in the western Caribbean. Kate, a category 2 hurricane that struck Florida’s panhandle on November 22, 1985 was the most recent November hurricane to strike the state.
The last November landfall in Florida, and the entire mainland USA since they all made landfall in Florida between 1900 and 2000, was made by a tropical storm or hurricane in 1985. According to Jeff Masters’ 13-year frequency rule of averages, another hurricane should have made landfall in Florida by 1998. However, we are now 24 year past that due date with Nicole’s arrival.
