There is plenty of debate among scientists about the extent to which you can blame climate change for ferocious hurricanes. But one thing they do not disagree on is that climate change contributes to sea surge. In the case of Hurricane Florence and the Carolinas, some six inches of the coming storm surge is attributable to climate change because sea levels have risen in the past 100 years or so.
“Essentially, every coastal flood today is made deeper and more damaging by sea-level rise caused by climate change,” said Benjamin Strauss, chief executive and chief scientist at the research organization Climate Central. “The principle is simple: If you fill a bathtub higher, it’s easier for splashes to get out of the tub.”
That means we have our own species to thank for at least some fraction of the dangerous storm surge for which the Carolinas are bracing. All storm surges, everything else being equal, can reach farther inland today than they could have before humans started heating up the atmosphere.
