Study Finds Cleaner Air Leads to More Atlantic Hurricanes

This satellite image provided by the NOAA shows five tropical storms churning in the Atlantic basin on Monday, Sept. 14, 2020. The storms, from left, are Hurricane Sally over the Gulf of Mexico, Hurricane Paulette over Bermuda, the remnants of Tropical Storm Rene, and Tropical Storms Teddy and Vicky. A NOAA study released on Wednesday, May 11, 2022 says cleaner air in Europe and the United States is helping trigger a dramatic increase in the number of Atlantic hurricanes. (NOAA via AP)

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By Associated Press

May 11, 2022 at 6:01 PM UTC

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(AP) -- Cleaner air in United States and Europe is brewing more Atlantic hurricanes, a new U.S. government study found.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration study links changes in regionalized air pollution across the globe to storm activity going both up and down. A 50% decrease in pollution particles and droplets in Europe and the U.S. is linked to a 33% increase in Atlantic storm formation in the past couple decades, while the opposite is happening in the Pacific with more pollution and fewer typhoons, according to the study published in Wednesday’s Science Advances.