The Big Story 

Scientists pointed fingers at climate change for the catastrophic impacts of last month's Hurricane Helene, just as Hurricane Milton was barreling toward Florida's Gulf Coast.  

© National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration via Associated Press

Hurricane Helene, which killed at least 227 people and left nearly 2 million people without power, formed in the Gulf of Mexico above record-high sea surface temperatures, a new report warned. 

That temperature spike, which stirred up and strengthened the storm, was made 200-500 times more likely due to human-induced climate change, according to the report, published by the Imperial College of London.  

The hurricane's heavy precipitation, combined with previous rainfall events, funneled water from steep terrain into rivers and streams — leading to what the authors described as "extremely sudden flash flooding."  

The torrential conditions, which affected large portions of Georgia, western North and South Carolina, eastern Tennessee and Virginia, made evacuations impossible in many areas. 

"Climate change is enhancing conditions conducive to the most powerful hurricanes like Helene, with more intense rainfall totals and wind speeds," the authors stated. 

The scientists combined observations with climate models to determine that rainfall in both the coastal and inland regions was about 10 percent heavier because of climate change.  

These results, the researchers stressed, were "in line with other scientific findings that Atlantic tropical cyclones are becoming wetter under climate change and undergoing more rapid intensification." 

Just hours following the report on Helene's publication, Hurricane Milton was heading toward the Tampa Bay region, threatening inland Florida and its western coast.  

As many as 5.9 million people were under evacuation orders, including the Tampa area's more than 3.3 million residents. 

Welcome to The Hill’s Sustainability newsletter, I'm Sharon Udasin — every week we follow the latest moves in the growing battle over sustainability in the U.S. and around the world.

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Essential Reads 

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Planetary ‘vital signs’ reaching record extremes: 2024 State of the Climate Report

Climate-drive departures of sperm whales, jumbo squid from Gulf of California raise ecosystem concerns

Climate Impacts 

© Getty Images

An increasing portion of those Americans who are struggling to pay energy bills reside in the South and Southwest, a new study has found. 

This climate-driven shift represents a transition away from heating to air conditioning use, according to the study, published on Wednesday in Science Advances.  

Signs of a shift: Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology tracked the change in so-called "energy burden" of households in the 48 contiguous United States, from 2015 to 2020. 

• “Energy burden” is the percentage of income needed to pay for energy necessities.
• “Energy poverty” applies to households with a burden of greater than 6 percent of their income. 

Digging into the data: The study authors took a sample of about 20,000 from the U.S. Energy Information Administration's Residential Energy Consumption Survey. 

They then used U.S. Census Bureau data to estimate the average household energy burden in every census tract: 73,057 tracts in 2015 and 84,414 in 2020.  

Southern, rural energy poverty: Their findings showed not only a shift in energy burden to the South, but also away from urban areas.  

• The researchers found that in 2015, Maine, Mississippi, Arkansas, Vermont and Alabama had the highest energy burdens across census tracts.
• In 2020, the top five states were Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama, West Virginia and Maine.
• About 23 percent of the tracts experiencing energy poverty in 2015 were in urban areas, while only 14 percent were in such locations in 2020.  

Disproportionate harm: The results, the authors determined, are consistent with the trends of a warming world: The now-milder northern U.S. requires less heat, while the sizzling South needs more air conditioning.   

• “Who’s going to be harmed most from climate change?” study co-author and MIT energy economist Christopher Knittel asked in a statement.
• “In the U.S., not surprisingly, it’s going to be the southern part,” Knittel said.   

A burgeoning burden: Not only is the South bearing the brunt of this burden, but the region also lacks sufficient funds and support to cope with such effects, according to the study. 

"It’s the southern part of the U.S that’s least able to respond," Knittel said. "If you’re already burdened, the burden’s growing.” 

Equitable allocation: Today’s federal energy assistance for low-income households would require a fourfold increase to guarantee that no U.S. household experienced energy poverty, per the study. 

• But the researchers proposed a new design that would help the worst-off households first and make certain that no family has an energy burden of more than 20.3 percent.
• Knittel described this strategy as “the most equitable way to allocate the money” and an effective way to ensure “that no one state is worse off than the others.” 

On Our Radar 

Upcoming news themes and events we're watching:

In Other News 

Branch out with different reads from The Hill:

Harris makes impromptu call into CNN, says Trump’s hurricane comments ‘dangerous’

Vice President Harris called into CNN on Wednesday to talk about Hurricane Milton as it approaches Florida, bashing former President Trump for his comments about the federal government’s response to the latest storms.

Florida officials make final warnings as Milton brings rain, wind: ‘This is going to be a knockout’

Florida officials say time is running out for residents to flee ahead of Hurricane Milton’s anticipated landfall Wednesday night, as they make their final evacuation warnings to locals near Tampa Bay and along the west coast of the peninsula.

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