A recent rapid attribution analysis conducted by ClimaMeter has revealed that Hurricane Beryl's impact on Jamaica was significantly worsened by climate change. The study found that modern storms like Beryl, tracking close to Jamaica, are now capable of unloading 30% more rain and producing 10% stronger winds compared to similar storms from the period between 1979 and 2001.
On Wednesday, the storm unleashed a deluge on Kingston, Jamaica's capital, with rainfall exceeding double the typical amount for the entire month of July in just 24 hours. Additionally, the city endured 12 consecutive hours of tropical-storm force winds, resulting in the tragic loss of two lives in the island nation.
According to one of the researchers involved in the study, Tommaso Alberti, the intensification of precipitation and wind speed in events like Hurricane Beryl can be attributed to human-driven climate change. Alberti emphasized that while similar weather events may occur with the same frequency, their intensity is expected to be stronger, leading to potentially catastrophic consequences for vulnerable regions like the Caribbean Islands.
Notably, Beryl made history by becoming the earliest Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic on record. Previous research has indicated that as the planet continues to warm due to fossil fuel pollution, there will likely be an increase in the frequency of the most intense tropical cyclones. Furthermore, rising ocean temperatures are causing storms to rapidly intensify, while the warming planet is supercharging rainfall from tropical cyclones.
