The brutal wind and torrential rainfall of Hurricane Milton that killed 16 people in Florida this week were worsened by human-caused climate change, a team of international 
Ruby Bishop and her son Alex are evacuated from her home by Pasco County Fire and Rescue and Sheriff's Office teams as waters rise in their neighbourhood after Hurricane Milton caused the Anclote River to flood, Friday, Oct 11, 2024, in New Port Richey, Florida. Global warming made wind speeds around 10 per cent stronger and rainfall greater by between 20 per cent and 30 per cent, according to an analysis by World Weather Attribution.
Milton intensified from a Category 1 storm into a tempestuous Category 5 in less than 24 hours, feeding off record- and near-record-warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico. It made landfall in Florida as a Category 3 hurricane.Previous scientific analyses have shown climate change has made such temperatures in the Gulf between 400 and 800 times more likely.
This extra heat made Milton the third-fastest intensifying Atlantic hurricane on record, the US National Hurricane Center said, with maximum sustained wind speeds reaching 180 mph .“This study has confirmed what should already be abundantly clear: climate change is supercharging storms, and burning fossil fuels is to blame," said Ian Duff, a campaigner at environmental nonprofit Greenpeace.
In light of extremely warm surface-water temperatures around Florida and the Caribbean, forecasters had expected a supercharged Atlantic hurricane season, with between four and seven major storms.There have only been five other years since 1950 that registered more than one Category 5 hurricane in one season, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.
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