Hurricane season runs June 1 to November 30 annually. However, this year meteorologists at the NOAA National Hurricane Center will be issuing Tropical Weather Outlooks (TWOs) starting May 15. This due to the recent string of named storms prior to June 1. Not only are storms occurring earlier, but we are seeing both a rapid intensification of storms and a higher amount of the strongest hurricanes. Are these changes due to climate change?
In this episode of Why It Matters, Libby Carnahan, our UF/IFAS Extension Pinellas County Florida Sea Grant Agent will talk about the facts, fiction, and theories of hurricanes and climate change.
Libby Carnahan is the Florida Sea Grant Agent for UF/IFAS Extension Pinellas County. She holds her Climate Change Professional® (CC-P®) credential from the Association of Climate Change Officers. She is founder and co-facilitator of the Tampa Bay Climate Science Advisory Panel, CSAP that covers the 7-county region. She is also an active leader and member of the Gulf of Mexico Climate and Resilience Community of Practice and is serving on the Program Committee for the 2022 National Adaptation Forum. Carnahan holds an MS in Marine Science from the University of South Florida (2005) and a BS in Biology from Truman State University (1998).