PARIS: The number of tropical cyclones each year has not increased over the past four decades but their intensity has increased, according to an international database analyzed by AFP that confirms meteorologists’ estimates.
According to database agencies recognized by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and coordinated by the US Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), there have been an average of 47 tropical storms — also known as hurricanes and typhoons — annually since 1980. .
While this annual frequency has remained relatively stable, the intensity of hurricanes has increased over the 30 years between 1981 and 2010 and the last decade.
Their average maximum wind speed has increased from 182 km/h to 192 km/h (119 to 113 mph) — a five percent increase.
Between 1981 and 2010, about one in 10 tropical cyclones exceeded 250 km/h, but in the past decade that number has risen to 1.4 in 10.
That’s a 40 percent increase in the number of Category Five hurricanes, the most destructive on the Saffir-Simpson scale.