Climate change increased maximum wind speeds for every Atlantic hurricane in 2024, according to a Climate Central analysis based on new, peer-reviewed research. Human-caused global warming elevated ocean temperatures and boosted all eleven storms’ intensities, increasing their highest sustained wind speeds by 9 to 28 miles per hour. This increase moved seven of the hurricanes into a higher Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale category and strengthened Hurricanes Debby and Oscar from tropical storms into hurricanes.
This analysis used the methodology from a new study published on November 20, 2024, in Environmental Research: Climate, which introduced a rapid attribution framework to assess the impact of human-caused ocean warming on hurricane intensities. The study, Human-caused ocean warming has intensified recent hurricanes (Gilford et al., 2024), applied this framework to Atlantic hurricanes from 2019-2023, and these findings cover the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season.
Key findings
- All eleven hurricanes in 2024 (as of November 10) intensified by 9-28 mph during the record-breaking ocean warmth of the 2024 hurricane season, strengthening over waters made as much as 2.5°F warmer because of climate change.
- Climate change made elevated sea surface temperatures (SST) in the tracks of 2024 hurricanes up to 800 times more likely, according to the Climate Shift Index: Ocean.
- Human-warmed ocean temperatures made major hurricanes Helene and Milton even stronger, adding 16 mph and 23 mph, respectively.
