CNN —The exceptionally warm water of the Gulf of Mexico that supercharged deadly Helene last month was made up to 500 times more likely by human-caused climate change, which also ramped up the hurricane’s wind and rain, according to a new scientific analysis. These ultra-warm ocean temperatures were made between 200 and 500 times more likely by climate change, driven by humans burning fossil fuels, according to the World Weather Attribution, a network of scientists that calculates the role of climate change in extreme weather events using real world data and climate models. Hurricanes as intense as Helene are now about 2.5 times more likely in the region, the study found. Baker Jarvis, a resident of Keaton Beach, Florida, works to recover his belongings from his home after Hurricane Helene on September 29, 2024. Rapid intensification, when a hurricane’s wind speed increases by at least 35 mph within 24 hours, has now become more common due to climate change.

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Persons: Helene, Ben Clarke, ” Clarke, Milton, Helene . Baker Jarvis, Hurricane Helene, Octavio Jones, ”, Bernadette Woods Placky, Hurricane Milton, “ Helene, Gabriel Vecchi, Friederike Otto, ” Otto Organizations: CNN, Imperial College London’s Grantham Institute, Hurricanes, Reuters, Climate, Hurricane, geosciences, Princeton University, WWA, Imperial College London Locations: Gulf of Mexico, Florida, Southern, Gulf, Keaton Beach , Florida, Bend, North Carolina