Two atmospheric scientists explain how they weigh evidence such as ocean temperatures, wind speeds and other climate patterns to predict how many Atlantic hurricanes are likely to form this year.
All tropical cyclones in the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season, with their locations shown at six-hour intervals and color representing maximum wind speed.
Cyclonebiskit/Wikipedia
Major hurricanes threaten millions of people and billions of dollars in property along the Atlantic coast. Here experts advise on preparing, understanding forecasts and recovering after a storm.
Survivors leave Tohoku a day after the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
Warren Antiola/Flickr
Disaster preparations often focus on gear and logistics, but research in Japan after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami shows that strong social ties played a key role in helping communities rebound.
Post-Matthew flooding in eastern North Carolina.
U.S. Army National Guard/Flickr
Why do some people evacuate ahead of disasters while others stay put? The rising death toll from Hurricane Matthew shows that often the poor and vulnerable are least able to move.
Damage from Hurricane Matthew in North Charleston, South Carolina, October 2016.
Ryan Johnson/Flickr
Conservative commentators accused government officials last week of hyping risks from Hurricane Matthew. A meteorologist explains why this is impossible in the internet era.
Destruction in Haiti following Hurricane Matthew.
EPA/Logan Abassi
As the U.S. braces for potential landfall of Hurricane Matthew, our experts weigh in on hurricanes, the need for resilient infrastructure and climate change.
A contaminated water sign on the sand following a rainstorm in Imperial Beach, California, December 2014.
Mike Blake/Reuters
In response to disasters like Superstorm Sandy, engineers are developing new building codes and tools to calculate the value of upgrades. National policy should encourage builders to use these tools.
National Guard soldiers inspect homes in Rockaway Park, Queens, New York, after Superstorm Sandy, 2012.
Spc. Zane Craig, PA National Guard/Flickr
As Atlantic hurricane season opens on June 1, eastern U.S. cities can prepare by updating laws, codes and ordinances that hamper rebuilding after storms.
Flooding in Houston, April 18, 2016.
Laurence Simon/Flickr
Extreme weather has an outsized impact on everyday life. Focusing on average weather patterns may make Americans dangerously complacent about how climate change is already affecting our lives.
Researchers compared the shipwreck history to tree ring data from slash pines to piece together the hurricane history over past centuries.
Grant Harley
In an attempt to better understand hurricanes, researchers recreate hundreds of years of hurricane records with Spanish shipwreck logs and tree ring data.
Hurricane Pali churns over the eastern Pacific on January 11.
NASA Earth Observatory
January hurricanes are rare events, but two have already formed this month. Atmospheric scientist Adam Sobel explains the conditions that generated Pali and Alex.
Extreme drought, a predictable impact of El Niño, fuels wildfires on the island of Borneo on October 14.
NASA/GSFC/LaRC/JPL-Caltech, MISR Team
False complacency: Hurricane Patricia didn't devastate Mexico as feared, but provides more evidence that warming waters raise the chances of more intense storms.
There were no fatalities from Hurricane Patricia, which was downgraded to a tropical storm after making landfall in Mexico.
Tomas Bravo/Reuters
Research shows that El Niño creates conditions for a certain type of hurricane – and offers clues as to how climate change can affect the severity of hurricanes.
Outside the Superdome in New Orleans on September 2 2005.
REUTERS/Jason Reed
The experiences of Hurricane Katrina evacuees spotlight the difficulties with our social “safety net” and the holes through which the poorest can fall.
A New Orleans policeman during a boat rescue mission in New Orleans on September 6 2005.
REUTERS/Lee Celano
New Orleans police have been eulogized as heroes and condemned as racists in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. A scholar examines the legacy of conflicting narratives and points to a way forward.
Katrina shortly after landfall.
NOAA/NASA GOES Project
Kerry Emanuel, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The latest science on hurricanes and climate change explained – vital information for coastal regions to prepare for the effects of more intense storms.
Professor of Practice in Meteorology, Professor of International Affairs & Director Center for Solutions to Weather and Climate Risk, Pennsylvania State University
Katherine Reebel Collegiate Professor of Social Work, Dean and Professor of Social Work, School of Social Work, and Professor of Anthropology, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, University of Michigan
