One Hurricane Katrina or Hurricane Harvey is a disaster. But having two such hurricanes hit the same area within a few weeks of each other is catastrophic. Coastal infrastructure is demolished, hundreds of thousands are left homeless, and it takes years for the region to recover.
Until recently, the odds of back-to-back storms have been small. But a recent study says that our changing climate appears to be boosting those chances. Some regions of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the U.S. could see double hits as often as every three years.
It’s no longer just a popular Beatles song—off the coast of central California, nearly two miles under the sea, is a “garden” of at least 6,000, and possibly up to 20,000, purple octopuses known to scientists as Muusoctopus robustus. Scientists first discovered the site about five years ago but needed time to investigate what led so many octopuses to congregate around Davidson Seamount, an extinct underwater volcano about 80 miles southwest of Monterey, California.
