--- title: Here's Why Hurricanes Are Getting Stronger | TIME description: Weather forecasters expect Hurricane Matthew to drop nearly a foot of of water in some places with winds hitting 140 mph. Those are frightening numbers, but meteorologists say a phenomenon known as storm surge may be responsible for the most damage. canonical: https://time.com/video/jQNV5SKM/ og:title: Here's Why Hurricanes Are Getting Stronger og:description: Weather forecasters expect Hurricane Matthew to drop nearly a foot of of water in some places with winds hitting 140 mph. Those are frightening numbers, but meteorologists say a phenomenon known as storm surge may be responsible for the most damage. og:url: https://time.com/video/jQNV5SKM/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/jQNV5SKM/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's Why Hurricanes Are Getting Stronger twitter:description: Weather forecasters expect Hurricane Matthew to drop nearly a foot of of water in some places with winds hitting 140 mph. Those are frightening numbers, but meteorologists say a phenomenon known as storm surge may be responsible for the most damage. twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/jQNV5SKM/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # Here's Why Hurricanes Are Getting Stronger > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: Here's Why Hurricanes Are Getting Stronger [Watch (HLS stream): Here's Why Hurricanes Are Getting Stronger](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/jQNV5SKM.m3u8) (1:09)  _Published 2016-10-06. Weather forecasters expect Hurricane Matthew to drop nearly a foot of of water in some places with winds hitting 140 mph. Those are frightening numbers, but meteorologists say a phenomenon known as storm surge may be responsible for the most damage._ --- Jul 27, 2023 8:55 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [Hurricane Ian Makes Landfall in Florida With 150-mph Winds](/video/mfVqVEMV/) ### Hurricane Ian Makes Landfall in Florida With 150-mph Winds [Here's How Massive Category 4 Hurricane Michael Looks From Space](/video/jFW2OFOP/) ### Here's How Massive Category 4 Hurricane Michael Looks From Space [Here’s What it Looks Like to Fly Directly Into the Eye of Hurricane Florence](/video/0DrsbECp/) ### Here’s What it Looks Like to Fly Directly Into the Eye of Hurricane Florence --- ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] The U. S. has been lucky to experience a bit of a hurricane hiatus this past decade. No major storm classified as having wind speed greater than 115 miles per hour has hit the country since 2005. [ MUSIC ] With wind speeds up to 140 miles per hour, Hurricane Matthew changed that. Scientists say that's consistent with the long term pattern they expect from man- made climate change. Storms may not occur more frequently, but when they do, they will be stronger. That's in part because storms form more easily in warmer water. And water has warmed significantly in recent decades. And that's not the only way climate change is making hurricanes more damaging. Sea level rise caused by warm water that has expanded and melting polar ice caps make coastal communities more vulnerable to flooding. Hurricanes like Matthew blow huge quantities of water ashore during a phenomenon called storm surge. An occurrence that gets worse with every inch of sea level rise. 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