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Hurricane Milton hit Florida hard earlier this month. Without climate change, it wouldn’t have been as bad, according to scientific researchers.

Hurricane Milton was wetter, windier and more destructive because of climate change, according to a study by the international scientific group World Weather Attribution. The group figures that without climate change Milton would have been a Category 2 storm rather than a Category 3 hurricane when it made landfall. Perhaps more worrisome, the researchers found that storms with Milton’s wind speeds have become 40% more frequent because the climate has warmed by 1.3 degrees Celsius since preindustrial times.

A second study by researchers at the Imperial College of London found that the increase in Milton’s intensity made it nearly twice as destructive. The Imperial College Researchers found that climate change had increased Hurricane Milton’s wind speeds at landfall by almost 11 miles per hour, or 10%, and upped Hurricane Helene’s wind speeds at landfall by about 13 miles per hour, or 11%. They estimated that 44% of the economic damage caused by Helene and 45% of that caused by Milton could be attributed to climate change.

Hurricane Milton could cause up to $50 billion in insured losses for Florida property owners, according to Fitch Ratings. That’s expected to push insured losses in Florida over $100 billion for the fifth year in a row.

The studies are “a wake-up call for anyone who thinks climate change is not important or too expensive to deal with,” said Ralf Toumi, a professor at Imperial College and director of the Grantham........

© Forbes