As if a pandemic is not enough to worry about, the effects of climate change appear to be delivering some particularly nasty weather this year. The waters of the Gulf of Mexico have been described as being abnormally warm, freakishly warm, and “on fire,” as average surface water temperature never fell below 73 degrees over the winter for the first time on record. Cities from Texas to Florida experienced unusually warm winters.

“Out of 90 days this winter, Miami saw a record-setting 69 of them reach 80°F or warmer!” wrote Miami broadcast meteorologist John Morales for the website WxShift, a project of Climate Central. 

Meteorologists have predicted unusually violent weather this spring in the south-central and the southeast United States and so far the predictions have proved to be disturbingly accurate. Tennessee and Georgia have been hit hard by tornados and severe thunderstorms in March and April. Just last week, storms brought hurricane-force winds across 500 miles of the south-central US, and there are forecasts of more severe weather on the way. 

Recently, a new forecast is predicting one of the most active Atlantic hurricane seasons on record. Boston Magazine reports: The latest predictions come from Pennsylvania State University’s Earth System Science Center. Scientists there are calling for 20 named storms in the Atlantic this year (the 30-year average is 12). A tropical storm typically earns a name from the National Hurricane Center when its wind speeds reach 39 miles per hour. If 20 named storms do occur this year, 2020 would become the second most active season on record in terms of the number of storms.