NBC News’ Claim of Climate Driven Rapid Hurricane Intensification is False
By
Heartland Institute
August 20, 2025
By Anthony Watts and H. Sterling Burnett
The recent NBC News article, “Climate change is increasing the risk of rapidly intensifying storms. Hurricane Erin is the latest example,” and a similar story published by CNN, are yet additional instances of media hyperbole overshadowing scientific nuance. The claim that climate change is driving the increasingly frequent rapid intensification of hurricanes is unproven and probably flat wrong.
NBC’s story opens dramatically:
Hurricane Erin strengthened back into a Category 4 behemoth over the weekend, the latest shift in what has been a remarkably fast-changing storm.
The hurricane’s behavior in recent days makes it one of the fastest-strengthening Atlantic hurricanes on record, and yet another indication that climate change is increasing the risk of rapidly intensifying storms.
This framing relies not on a robust dataset or a careful review of historical hurricane behavior, but on a shallow reading of recent high-profile storms and a generous dose of conjecture. The article immediately jumps to the assertion that a single hurricane—Erin—is somehow emblematic of a global, climate-driven trend.
https://climaterealism.com/2025/08/nbc-news-claim-of-climate-driven-rapid-hurricane-intensification-is-false/
