Landlocked Vermont might not be the first state that comes to mind for hurricanes, but recent major storms have made it clear that it’s not immune to their ravages.
Hurricane Debbie A Category 1 earthquake made landfall in Florida on August 5, but a few days later, its remnant winds knocked out power. About 25,000 people in the Green Mountain state. Last month, Hurricane Beryl made landfall in Texas and swept across the country. As it faded, about 2,000 miles from Houston, Beryl drenched Vermont with more than 6 inches of rain, causing Severe flooding.
This is spooled up into a devastating storm Unusually active hurricane seasonPowered by Extreme heat in the Atlantic Ocean and the transition to La Niña in the Pacific Ocean, which creates ideal wind and water conditions for hurricanes. but Leslie-Ann L. Dupigny-GirouxVermont’s state climatologist, explained that New England has a long history of hurricanes — even many inland from the ocean, most recently with Tropical Storm Lee in 2011 and Nate in 2017.
Although states around the Gulf Coast bear most of the brunt of hurricanes, even storms entering the United States from the south can linger inland and northward. Beryl and Debbie show how they can wreak death and destruction even after being relegated to a tropical storm or depression.
Average temperatures are rising due to climate change, and because warmer air can hold more moisture, the most damaging elements of these storms — the extreme rainfall and flooding caused by storm surges — will continue to worsen. This means hurricanes will create a greater swath of destruction, endangering people who were not previously vulnerable. Understanding the mechanisms behind hurricanes is a key step in preparing for future storms and preventing their worst destruction far from the coast.
How do hurricanes move over land?
Atlantic hurricanes A wave of low atmospheric pressure begins as it moves westward over warm, tropical waters from Africa. Lower pressure from the atmosphere allows for more air, carrying moisture with it. That rising, warm, moist air then cools as it ascends, condensing into clouds that can form thunderstorms.
To develop into a hurricane — a rotating storm with wind speeds greater than 74 miles per hour — several other factors must fall into place. There should be very little wind shearA phenomenon where wind changes speed and direction with altitude. A strong wind shear can tear hurricanes apart before they form, but when winds are minimal, a storm can accumulate energy. Sea surface water also needs to be around 80 degrees Fahrenheit or warmer. This creates a reservoir of thermal energy that powers hurricane churn.
This year the Atlantic Ocean It was so hot That Hurricane Beryl has arrived Category 5 powerWith sustained winds of 157 miles per hour, earlier than any hurricane on record. It ramped up faster and further east than most hurricanes. Typically, the Atlantic Ocean does not warm enough in late summer or early fall to fuel such strong storms.
Once they spool up, trade winds push the storms westward, and as they pass over patches of exceptionally warm water, hurricanes fast intensiveWind speeds will increase to 35 miles per hour during the day or less.
As hurricanes approach North America, they begin to encounter westerlies, winds that flow from west to east in the mid-latitudes. “They interact with these storms that move west, northwest and pick them up and start moving them north,” said Christopher Roseoffis a project scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research at the National Science Foundation. This often puts hurricanes on a hook-shaped path.
But as Beryl and Debbie show, that path can extend long distances over land, even without the warm ocean water that hurricanes feed on. What keeps the engine running? “It’s a really complicated question,” Rozoff said. “We don’t have all the answers.”
That said, scientists have observed a few ways this game plays out. Hurricanes like Debbie are large enough that while most of it is over land, a portion can extend over the ocean, providing some of the warm water the storm needs to move.
A hurricane may also cease to be a definite tropical cyclone over land, but it may still continue as an intense rainstorm. “Once a tropical system makes landfall, it will dissipate as it rains and is stripped of the energy and moisture from the warm water above,” said Dupigny-Giroux. “Tropical systems can become ‘extra-tropical’ and ‘post-tropical’ in nature, meaning their internal properties are no longer similar to warm core systems.”
Extratropical Cyclone Rotating storms that move further from the equator and have cooler air at their center. Instead of drawing on ocean heat, jet stream — a fast-moving, high-elevation airflow — can carry hurricane remnants over land, similar to the process behind major winter storms.
Basins of warm water, such as large lakes or marshes, can also fuel hurricanes “You can take the storm and put it over a piece of land that’s waterlogged or has a lot of moisture, and it can keep the storm going for a while,” Rozoff said.
Another factor to consider is whether the hurricane is holding a steady intensity or whether it is in the process of gaining strength. “If it intensifies over land, we often see that the storm is going to be really strong and ferocious over land,” Rozoff said. On the other hand, a cyclone that has been churning at the same speed for a while tends to weaken as it hits the coast.
As if that weren’t bad enough, hurricanes can make landfall out of the ocean Spawn Tornadoes. Land is relatively rough compared to the surface of the ocean and this creates friction for hurricane winds. As the air slows near the ground, the air tends to flow faster aloft, inducing wind shear that can create a rotating air column that can form a tornado. Because they are relatively small and form quickly, tornadoes are notoriously difficult to predict, making it difficult for people to issue shelter warnings, exacerbating a hurricane’s toll.
Beryl and Debbie are the latest compound disaster to hit the United States
Although Beryl and Debbie were phenomenal storms, part of the reason they were so damaging was that they hit places with less experience with hurricanes and thus less preparation for them.
The hard lesson is that communities far from the sea still need to invest in stronger infrastructure, forecasting and early warning systems. People moving offshore may need to move further to get out of harm’s way. Complicating matters is population growth, especially in coastal areas. This means tropical storms can cause more property damage and, in some cases, more deaths. And climate change is causing higher levels of hurricanes Storms due to sea level rise and more precipitation due to warmer air. Together, these factors lead to more widespread and costly flooding.
It is important to remember that the effects of hurricanes can be compounded on top of other disasters. Florida’s Big Bend region, where Debbie made landfall, is still recovering from last year’s Hurricane Idalia. Beryl knocked out power in Houston during the heat wave, leaving thousands of residents without cooling as temperatures and humidity reached dangerous highs. This increases the storm’s destruction beyond the total amount of its wind and precipitation.
And while hurricanes plague the headlines, it’s important not to lose sight of the fact that a storm doesn’t have to be a hurricane to be devastating. “Post-Tropical Storm Beryl actually produced less rainfall than it should have July 2023 Flooding across VermontDupigny-Giroux said. Heavy rain events becoming more severe as average temperatures rise.
As a result, many people may be more vulnerable to disasters than they realize. But bad effects can be avoided with adequate planning.
