Martinez: Ocean warming intensifies storms
When you bring up global warming and climate change you are sure to get a few eyes to roll in our politically charged climate, with both sides of the aisle offering their opinions.
Scientists say one thing is for certain, our planet is getting warmer. They have been measuring the Earth’s global temperatures since the late 1800s and it has risen almost a full degree Celsius since then, and that’s huge. The world climate organization IPCC just released its climate report that predicts a rise of 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2050.
That can cause warmer ocean temperatures, making storms more intense, like Hurricane Michael, the strongest on record to hit the Florida Panhandle. The Gulf of Mexico is unusually warm with water temperatures in the 80s, about 4 degrees above average.
That provides fuel for the storm and helped Michael quickly intensify into a category 4 hurricane, with 155 mph winds as it made landfall.
We’ve also seen a dramatic increase in the number of major storms in just the past 20 years. That includes hurricanes Katrina, Sandy, Harvey, Maria and Irma to name a few.
The report also says the Earth's carbon dioxide levels are at record levels, more on that tomorrow.