What does the new era of hurricanes mean for Canada?

In today’s The Big Story podcast, we all watched in horror as America was pummelled by two massive storms in the span of ten days, the second of which gained intensity incredibly quickly before making landfall. Experts have said this is the future of what hurricane season will be like due to climate change.

In Atlantic Canada, it’s hurricane season now, and our meteorologists watched Helene and Milton closely, trying to determine if the factors that created two storms so close together and so destructive might apply to our own Eastern coast. 

Chris Fogarty is a meteorologist and program manager at the Canadian Hurricane Centre. “We can have storms that maybe 50 years ago did not have a big impact, but now they may have more of an impact because the water level has generally risen, and then you get a storm on top of that,” said Fogarty. 

So, what did they learn from what Americans suffered through? How do you separate hyperbole and conspiracy from calm, rational science? And is Canada ready for the storms of the future, whatever they might look like?

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