Typhoons in the Northern Hemisphere

This is my hometown,
Tuguegarao

The world in its entirety has been experiencing increasingly powerful typhoons each year.

Earlier this 2023, I moved to the East Coast of the United States. But it seems that typhoons—or hurricanes, as they’re called here—aren’t unique to the Philippines. Geographically, the East Coast faces similar risks, regularly enduring hurricanes. As highlighted in charts by The New York Times, both the Philippines and the U.S. East Coast shares a significant climate vulnerability: the destructive force of typhoons and hurricanes.

From the same NYT report, Southeast Asia will be among the hardest places hit, with 2 billion people at risk. From 2000 to 2019, floods upended the lives of at least 1.65 billion people — the highest number in any disaster category. World Bank reports that climate change is exacting a heavy toll on Filipinos’ lives, properties, and livelihoods. Left unaddressed, it could hamper the country’s ambition of becoming an upper-middle-income country by 2040.

“Every hurricane in 2024 was stronger than it would have been 100 years ago...Through record-breaking ocean warming, human carbon pollution is worsening hurricane catastrophes in our communities.”
–
Daniel Gilford
lead author and climate scientist
Climate Central