Recent history suggests the answer is yes, with six of the most destructive hurricanes ever recorded all occurring within the last eleven years.
Now a new study concludes that the average intensification of tropical cyclones across the Atlantic has increased by more than 25 per cent. As a result, storms that may have been relatively weak in earlier decades are now more likely to be boosted within a day or two to something significantly more intense. With stronger hurricanes, the effect can be even more pronounced.
While numerous studies have looked at the question of hurricane intensification in specific areas, Dr. Rowan said her aim was to look across the entire Atlantic hurricane. For Canada’s Atlantic coast, the pattern is more ambiguous, with a large region of the Atlantic to the east of Nova Scotia showing somewhat less storm intensification compared to the earlier era.