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Hurricane Harvey
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Super soaker: scientists say Harvey may be a soggy taste of future storms in a warmer world

Climate change might not be to blame, but the drenching of Texas illustrates how global warming could change the way storms behave

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Rain teems down as evacuees are rescued from a flooded neighbourhood in Houston, Texas, on Monday. Photo: AFP
Associated Press

By the time it’s done, former hurricane Harvey will have dumped about 3.8 million litres of water for every man, woman and child in southeastern Texas. That’s 1 million gallons per person.

It’s a soggy, record-breaking glimpse of the wet and wild future that global warming could bring, scientists say.

While scientists are quick to say that climate change didn’t cause Harvey and that they haven’t determined yet whether the storm was made worse by global warming, they do note that warmer air and water mean wetter and possibly more intense hurricanes in the future.

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