Why Hurricane Sally Could Bring a Deluge

Climate change is making hurricanes wetter, because as the atmosphere warms it can hold more moisture. But Hurricane Sally is expected to dump as much as two and a half feet of rain on parts of the Gulf Coast over the next few days, and such enormous amounts cannot be chalked up to increased atmospheric moisture alone.

On Tuesday, the National Hurricane Center reported that Sally’s translation speed, the rate at which it moves forward, was about 2 miles an hour, and that the storm was not expected to accelerate much as it moved northward in the Gulf of Mexico toward an expected landfall Wednesday. It was stalling, in effect, as it approached the Mississippi coast.

Hurricane Paulette, by contrast, was zipping along with a translation speed of more than 25 m.p.h. in the Atlantic on Tuesday after passing Bermuda two days before.

By:

Henry Fountain