Climate change triggered intensified rain, wind in Hurricane Milton: experts

Washington: Experts said on Friday that human induced climate change made Hurricane Milton, which lashed Florida this week, wetter and windier. He...

Washington: Experts said on Friday that human-induced climate change made Hurricane Milton, which lashed Florida this week, wetter and windier.

"Heavy one-day rainfall events such as the one associated with Milton are 20-30 percent more intense and about twice as likely in today's climate," the international World Weather Attribution group said in a report.

The effect boosted Milton's wind strength by about 10 percent, making what would have been a Category 2 storm a more destructive Category 3, on a five-point scale, the report said.

With every one-step increase in category the risk of damage from a hurricane multiplies by four, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The WWA's rapid-fire study released just two days after Milton hit the west coast of Florida, killing at least 16 people, is less detailed than other studies often done by the group.