The Atlantic

Does Harvey Represent a New Normal for Hurricanes?

Research suggests a warming world will have less frequent, more intense tropical cyclones.
Source: Richard Carson / Reuters

Even though rain is still falling in Houston, history has already been made: Hurricane Harvey is almost certainly the largest U.S. flooding rainstorm ever. In its rapid intensification and its powerful downpours, it presents many of the symptoms of human-caused climate change, though scientists caution that it will take months for them to distinguish the full effects of global warming on the storm.

Yet Harvey also seems to break with a recent trend. Technically, the storm is the first major hurricane to make landfall in the United States in more than 11

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