Climate change makes Philippines at double risk of typhoons
Climate change is making the Philippines more vulnerable to tropical storms, with rising temperatures making the country twice as likely to be hit by deadly storms.
In a report released yesterday, scientists from the World Weather Attribution (WWA) group said that climate change is making the Philippines more vulnerable to tropical storms , with rising temperatures making the country twice as likely to be hit by deadly storms.
The likelihood of four unprecedented typhoons forming around the Philippines last month was 70 percent higher due to a 1.3-degree Celsius rise in global temperatures, according to scientists at the World Climate Change Association, an organization that assesses the role of climate change in extreme weather patterns around the world.
Typhoon Man-Yi causes flooding in Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija, Philippines. (Photo: Reuters).
Although scientists remain cautious about attributing individual weather events to climate change, there is also consensus that warmer oceans are increasing rainfall and wind speeds globally.
' Climate change has nearly doubled the likelihood of hurricanes forming and causing them,' the WWA group said .
Hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated and more than 170 died in an unprecedented string of six tropical storms that hit the Philippines in October and November, raising concerns that storm activity is being boosted by higher sea surface temperatures.
" The storms are likely to develop more strongly and hit the Philippines with higher intensity than usual, " said Ben Clarke, a climate researcher at Imperial College London and one of the report's authors .
If temperatures rise by 2.6 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, the likelihood of similar storms would be 40 percent higher than today, Mr. Ben Clarke added.
An analysis published last month by US weather researchers Climate Central said hurricanes have intensified significantly due to record-breaking ocean temperatures , with wind speeds increasing by 18 mph.
Scientists believe warmer ocean temperatures are intensifying tropical storms by increasing evaporation rates. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said in its latest assessment that there is ' high confidence' that global warming will make hurricanes more intense.
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