Climate Change and Hurricanes: Full Timeline

Climate change and hurricanes are linked because rising ocean temperatures provide more energy for tropical storms, making them stronger, wetter, and slower-mo…

Kerry Emanuel Proposes Climate-Hurricane Link in Landmark 1987 Paper

MIT atmospheric scientist Kerry Emanuel published a theoretical framework in the Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences in 1987, arguing that maximum hurricane wind speed i…

IPCC Second Assessment Report Flags Tropical Storm Intensification Risk

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Second Assessment Report, released in 1995, included the first formal intergovernmental warning that a warmer climate cou…

1999 Odisha Super Cyclone Kills 10,000 — India's Deadliest Modern Storm

On 29 October 1999, a Category 5 equivalent super cyclone made landfall near Paradip, Odisha, with wind speeds exceeding 260 km/h — the most powerful tropical cyclone ev…

Hurricane Katrina Devastates New Orleans, Reigniting Climate-Storm Debate

Hurricane Katrina made landfall on 29 August 2005 as a Category 3 storm near New Orleans but had reached Category 5 strength over the Gulf of Mexico — a body of water ru…

IPCC Fourth Assessment Report Confirms Rising Tropical Cyclone Intensity

The IPCC's Fourth Assessment Report, finalised in 2007, moved the needle from 'suggestive' to 'likely' on the climate-hurricane link: it concluded it was likely that hum…

Typhoon Haiyan Makes Landfall as the Most Powerful Tropical Cyclone in Recorded…

Typhoon Haiyan, known in the Philippines as Yolanda, made landfall on 8 November 2013 with sustained winds of approximately 315 km/h — the highest wind speed ever record…

Nature Study Confirms Rapid Intensification of Tropical Cyclones Increasing Glo…

A landmark study published in Nature Climate Change in 2019, led by researchers including scientists from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, used sa…

Cyclone Amphan Becomes Strongest Ever Recorded in Bay of Bengal

Cyclone Amphan made landfall near the Sundarbans on 20 May 2020 as a super cyclonic storm with wind speeds of approximately 185 km/h, causing an estimated ₹1 lakh crore…

IPCC Sixth Assessment Report States With High Confidence That Climate Change In…

The IPCC's Sixth Assessment Report, released in August 2021, delivered its most definitive verdict yet: it concluded with high confidence that human-caused climate chang…

Cyclone Biparjoy Strikes Gujarat as Arabian Sea Warms to Record Temperatures

Cyclone Biparjoy, which made landfall near Jakhau in the Kutch district of Gujarat in June 2023, was one of the longest-lived and most intense pre-monsoon cyclones ever…

Hurricane Helene Undergoes Record Rapid Intensification in Abnormally Warm Gulf…

Hurricane Helene made landfall on Florida's Gulf Coast in late September 2024 after undergoing exceptional rapid intensification — intensifying from a tropical storm to…