Climate experts are expecting this year’s tropical storm season in the North Atlantic to be less eventful. Climate experts at Munich Re, a German reinsurance firm, said forecasts by several research institutes say this year’s season will be average.
The long-term average for the hurricane season, lasting from the summer until the early autumn off the coasts of the US and Caribbean islands, is 6.3 tropical storms, the German news agency reported.
In 2017, there were 10 hurricanes, the most destructive being Harvey, Irma and Maria, which laid waste to the Caribbean and parts of the US east coast. Damages resulting from the 2017 hurricane season were a record 220 billion dollars. The hurricane season starts each year at the beginning of June.
Munich Re climate experts, Eberhard Faust and Mark Bove, wrote in a report: “The coastal states must prepare themselves for a normal tropical storm season, in which one strong hurricane could hit them,’’ They expect between five and nine hurricanes, the same as the US meteorological authorities.
The experts were proved wrong in 2017 when they said it would be a below-average season for hurricanes. But instead, ocean temperatures in the North Atlantic were unusually warm, leading to more hurricanes. Munich Re is the world’s largest insurer and has its own dedicated climate department.
Torsten Jeworrek of the company’s board has said Munich Re does not expect more storms, just more powerful and damaging ones, which could lead to higher payouts.
