Hurricanes Could Become Stronger and More Frequent

MT. PLEASANT, S.C. - July 15, 2013 - PRLog -- In 2010, Sylvan Dell released Patti R. Zelch’s book Ready, Set…WAIT! The book is all about hurricanes and how people and animals prepare for them. According to a study by hurricane researcher Kerry Emanuel, we might be doing a lot more readying, setting and waiting in the future because hurricanes will become stronger and more frequent.

For years scientists have predicted that hurricanes will become stronger as the global climate changes, but Emanuel’s study is one of the first to predict there will also be more of them. Emanuel used the newest form of hurricane modeling technology. His model predicted a significant increase in the Power Dissipation Index, the measure of a hurricane’s frequency. These more powerful hurricanes will have higher storm surges and more rainfall.

Readers of Ready, Set…WAIT! will remember information on storm surges and rainfall from the Creative Minds section in the back of the book. A storm surge is the wave of water which strong winds push onto land during a hurricane. They sometimes wash vehicles and buildings farther inland. Higher storm surges and more rainfall will result in more flooding.  

However, not all scientists are convinced that Emanuel’s predictions are accurate. Emanuel’s models disagree with the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s 2012 report which predicted that while climate change might make hurricanes stronger, it will also cause there to be fewer hurricanes in general. Additionally James Elsner, an atmospheric scientist at Florida State University, said that while predictive risk analysis was useful, “it would benefit greatly by being grounded in risk metrics computed from observed data.” In other words, Elsner thinks evidence from Emanuel’s model is not as useful to scientists as evidence collected from hurricanes that have already struck.  

Ready, Set…Wait! is a valuable tool to introduce hurricanes to young children to learn more about this book or to request a review copy contact publicist Heather Williams at heatherwilliams@sylvandellpublishing.com.