The Gulf of Mexico is almost as warm as a bath, and it’s stirring up monster storms

Thunderstorm clouds can be seen moving over open water.
A thunderstorm can be seen moving over Tampa in the distance from St. Petersburg, Florida ahead of Hurricane Milton’s expected landfall in the middle of this week on October 8, 2024. | Photo: Getty Images

Hurricane Milton, like Hurricane Helene before it, is souped up on hot water in the Gulf of Mexico.

Hurricanes need warm water to develop, with higher temperatures helping them gather strength. It’s a risk that’s growing with climate change, and we’re already seeing the alarming consequences this hurricane season.

“The warmer the water is, effectively, the more fuel that is available for the storm engine to work with,” says Scott Braun, a research meteorologist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center who specializes in hurricanes.

Milton exploded on October 7th, rapidly intensifying from a Category 1 to a Category 5 storm in near-record time. That...

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