Strong riptides linked to tropical storm systems, including Hurricane Erin, last month made swimming conditions more dangerous, keeping Seacoast lifeguards busy this summer.
With two months left of the hurricane season, the state’s coastline may still have to contend with the effects of tropical storms and hurricanes supercharged by climate change.
As manmade climate change warms the atmosphere, New Hampshire is getting warmer and wetter. The Gulf of Maine is warming faster than the ocean overall.
Mary Stampone, the state’s climatologist, said these conditions can supercharge storms. Typically, hurricanes that made their way up to New England started to weaken as they moved into the colder waters of the North Atlantic.
“But with our oceans warming, those storms are not weakening at the same rate that they used to,” Stampone said. “So with the warmer waters means that we can then get tropical systems that are still in the hurricane or tropical storm phase.”
This is because a few key factors power hurricanes. Warmer ocean waters mean more intense storms and warmer atmospheres can hold more moisture which can lead to more precipitation. The end result tends to be storms that are more intense, with stronger winds, more rain and more coastal flooding. As sea levels rise, scientists predict storm surge will get worse.
Even if a storm doesn’t make landfall in New England, its effects can still be felt, like Hurricane Erin. Stampone said offshore systems can still turn up the intensity of waves and currents near shore.
Other factors like El Niño influence the strength of a given hurricane season. The last El Niño went from mid-2023 to June 2024.
Stampone says hurricanes shouldn’t be the only storms that grab our attention.
She said Nor’Easters, which are distinguished from hurricanes because they form over colder water, can cause the most coastal damage here. They can happen in the winter and often come in the form of blizzards.
“It's small but a very important coastline that we have,” she said.
