Super Typhoon Yagi is just part of a series of extreme weather events the world has faced in recent years under the impact of climate change.
Strong winds from Superstorm Beryl made it difficult for police officers to deal with the incident of an overturned tractor-trailer in Freeport, Texas - Photo: REUTERS
Despite its devastating power, Super Typhoon Yagi is only the second-strongest tropical storm of 2024, according to Euro News. The first is Super Typhoon Beryl, which swept across the Americas in early July. The two storms, along with a series of highly destructive super typhoons around the world in 2023, show that extreme weather patterns are becoming more severe. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has stated that the number of tropical storms in the world is unlikely to increase in the future. However, their intensity will increase to the highest level under the impact of climate change.
Climate change makes storms stronger
A key factor in the formation of tropical cyclones is the flow of warm, moist air. In tropical waters near the equator with sufficiently warm water (usually at least 27°C), the high temperatures evaporate large amounts of water and create warm, moist air on the ocean surface. As this air rises, it carries energy from the ocean surface into the atmosphere, leaving a vacuum near the ocean surface and creating an area of low pressure. Surrounding air is drawn into this low pressure area. This movement creates a circular flow of air around the low pressure area. If favorable conditions persist, including high sea surface temperatures, the storm will continue to strengthen and may develop into a tropical storm. As the storm moves over land or into colder waters, it loses its main source of energy from the warm ocean water. This causes the storm to weaken and eventually dissipate. Citing several meteorologists, Euro News said that climate change is warming the oceans, thereby providing more energy for storms to develop. In addition, a warmer atmosphere also increases humidity and rainfall. This makes flooding more common and severe.
Asia is most affected by climate change
Flooding in Myanmar on September 14 caused by storm Yagi - Photo: AFP
In late July, Rowan University (USA), Nanyang University (Singapore) and the University of Pennsylvania (USA) jointly announced the results of a study on the impact of climate change on storm intensity in Southeast Asia. Based on the analysis of 64,000 past and future storm models, spanning from the 19th century to the end of the 21st century, the analysis team found that tropical storms in Southeast Asia are changing in a trend: forming closer to shore, gaining strength faster and maintaining their intensity longer when they make landfall. This puts many coastal cities in Southeast Asia at risk of larger storms, including Hai Phong, Yangon and Bangkok. According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Asia is the region most affected by extreme weather and climate events in the world in 2023. The average sea surface temperature of Asia in 2023 was the second highest in history, 0.91 degrees Celsius higher than the period 1991 - 2020 and 1.87 degrees Celsius higher than the period 1961 - 1990. The sea surface temperature in the northwest Pacific Ocean was the highest in history, while the Arctic Ocean also faced ocean heat waves. Even the phenomenon of warming at the surface of the ocean (from 0 - 700m below sea level) occurred three times faster than the world average in the northwest Arabian Sea, the Philippine Sea and the seas north of Japan.
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