Hurricane Ernesto arrived way early. It’s an ominous sign.
After unleashing widespread flooding and knocking out electricity for half of Puerto Rico, this season’s third hurricane, Ernesto, has turned north, and is approaching Bermuda. In an average Atlantic season, the third hurricane doesn’t spin up until September 7, so Ernesto has arrived way, way early. As of August 9, this summer had already produced a third of the activity in a typical season — with nearly 90 percent of it remaining.
All that makes Ernesto, now a Category 2 hurricane, an ominous sign of what’s still to come in the next few months — and what to expect as the planet rapidly warms. “Being a little more than three weeks ahead of schedule for the third hurricane is pretty impressive,” said Brian McNoldy, a hurricane researcher at the University of Miami.
This spring, scientists predicted that the …
