The Storm Ahead: Climate Change's Impact on Hurricane Precipitation - Margaret Palmer

Project Summary

Hurricanes are strong storms formed by areas of high temperatures and low pressure. With global warming, our climate has drastically changed, including the rise of sea surface temperatures. Higher temperatures are fuel for hurricanes, and help them form. Due to this, climate change is suspected to increase hurricane strength and frequency over the next decade. I will be investigating the effect that these rising sea level temperatures have on hurricanes, specifically on their precipitation rates. Using databases from NASA and from NOAA, I will collect sea surface temperature data from select locations across the US Atlantic and Gulf coasts, such as Miami, FL; and Galveston, TX. I will also be using these databases to find the total precipitation for each day in my selected time period, from 5 days before the storm, and to 5 days after the storm made landfall. Once my data is collected, correlation tests will be run to determine the relationship that rising sea temperatures have on hurricane precipitation. This information can be used to bring awareness to our changing climate to promote legislation. It can also be used for building and design, so that we don't suffer as much economic damage.