How Hurricane Idalia went from Category 1 to Category 4 overnight
How Hurricane Idalia went from Category 1 to Category 4 overnight Warmer oceans in recent years have provided the energy for hurricanes to rapidly intensify, a phenomenon that is likely to be more common in a warming climate. Warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico helped fuel Hurricane Idalia ’s rapid intensification hours before it made landfall, a phenomenon that experts say will likely occur more often in a warming world. As Idalia moved through the Gulf on Tuesday, its winds rose by 55 mph in just 24 hours, strengthening from a Category 1 hurricane to a Category 4 by early Wednesday. It weakened slightly to a Category 3 hurricane before making landfall a few hours later in Florida’s Big Bend , near Keaton Beach. Easy ways to get rid of mouth ulcers But Idalia’s intensification as it approached the Florida coast is “to be expected with hotter ocean temperatures,” said Jeff Masters, a former hurricane scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmosp...
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