26/09/2025
Super Typhoon Ragasa, the strongest storm of the year so far, was intensified by human-made climate change, a new study has concluded.
Carried out by ClimaMeter, the study compared weather patterns in the past (1950–1986) and present-day climate (1987–2023). It concluded that present-day atmospheric conditions resembling Ragasa are now wetter and warmer, favoring the kind of heavy rains, storm surges, and widespread floods that devastated Luzon, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Guangdong.
Specifically, researchers found that cyclones similar to Super Typhoon Ragasa today are locally up to 10 mm/day – about 10% – wetter, around 1C warmer, and roughly 4% windier compared to the past.
While natural climate variability may have played a “modest” role, “the long-term changes in pressure, precipitation, and temperature strongly suggest that the event’s severity is largely consistent with human-driven climate change,” the study said.
“The devastating impacts of Ragasa show that greenhouse gas emissions do far more than warm the world — they make typhoons wetter, stronger, and more violent,” said Davide Faranda from the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS).
Photo: Kyle Lam/hongkongfp.com
👉️Read the full article at the link in bio
👉️Follow for your daily environmental news!
👉️Support our work. Visit: earth.org/donations
