Extreme heat often follows tropical cyclones, which can complicate disaster recovery even further, researchers have found.
Extreme heat often follows tropical cyclones, which can complicate disaster recovery even further, researchers have found.
Three days after Hurricane Fiona struck Puerto Rico in mid-September, the National Weather Service issued an extreme heat advisory, warning that the heat index – which incorporates humidity to calculate perceived temperature – could reach up to 109 degrees.
Above-average temperatures almost always follow tropical cyclones – which by definition include tropical storms and hurricanes – and may soar to nearly 10 degrees Fahrenheit higher than average, according to a new University of Arizona-led study published in the Journal of Geophysical Research. The study's authors stressed that their results are likely conservative estimates of just how high temperatures can climb following a cyclone.
Tropical cyclones often cause damage from strong winds, storm surges, intense rain and flooding, but extreme heat is an additional hazard, the researchers found. Above-average temperatures can occur days later and even in nearby areas that were not directly impacted by the storm.
Read more at University of Arizona
Image: Hurricane Fiona over the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico on Sept. 19, 2022, captured by NOAA's GOES-East satellite. (Credit: CIRA/NOAA)
