Hurricane Ian made landfall in southwest Florida near Cayo Costa on Wednesday afternoon in the upper limits of a catastrophic Category 4 storm, with sustained winds of 150 mph, the Associated Press reported.
It’s been more than a century since a major storm packing the punch that Hurricane Ian threatens hit the popular Tampa Bay and Ft. Myers areas in Florida. Modern living means we’re better at warning people. It also means that major housing sprawl and coastal business development and the growing threat of worsening storms each year put even more lives and property in harm’s way.
Related: Late-hitting Ian keeps expensive and high-risk hurricane season on track, fueled by climate change Read: A retirement safe from climate change? Ask the tough questions about real estate and property insurance In fact, as Ian continues to track north, it will be pushing the waters of the Gulf of Mexico northward with it. This is storm surge, and it raises the water level, with waves on top adding to its destructive power.
But NOAA and other research bodies say that warming and higher sea levels in the Gulf of Mexico can, and will, continue to intensify, without curbing the atmospheric warming largely caused by burning fossil fuels CL00, -0.43%. The U.S. and other major economies have vowed to halve emissions by 2030 and flip to net-zero emissions by 2050, but the degree of success so far remains varied.
And there’s heat to consider Of course Florida is warm. That’s the draw. And life on a coast can bring cooling breezes. By that year, 1,023 U.S. counties are expected to exceed 125°F, an area that is home to 107.6 million Americans and covers a quarter of the U.S. land area, says nonprofit First Street.
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