This story was originally published byGrist.
Canadas deadliest wildfires on record bathed skylines in smoke from Minnesota to New York.
Forecasts suggest that this years upcomingdanger seasonhas its own catastrophes in store.
Flooding in Houston from Tropical Storm Harvey in 2017.Photo: Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times (Getty Images)
A week earlier, they released a seasonal map predicting blistering temperatures across almostthe entire country.
Weve always had this pattern of El Nino, La Nina.
We need to be ready for the types of extremes that have not been tested in the past.
La Nina, the opposite cycle, brings back cooler ocean waters.
But swinging between the two can also raise thermostats: Summers between the phases havehigher than average temperatures.
I think it gives us a little sneak peek of whats in store, he said.
It also provides potential fuel for hurricanes, which form as energy is sucked up vertically into the atmosphere.
When its strong, it can be the dominant signal on the entire planet.
Even a hurricane with relatively low wind speeds can dump enough water to cause catastrophic floodinghundreds of miles inland.
Although human-caused warming wont directly increase the frequency of hurricanes, he said, it canmake them more destructive.
Its a question of how much worse its going to get, he said.
As desiccated land and soaring temperatures dry out vegetation, the stage is set for wildfires.
Unfortunately, our cities were built for a range of temperatures and weather conditions that dont exist anymore.
This article originally appeared inGristathttps://grist.org/climate/summer-hurricane-extreme-weather-2024/.
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