Last month, forecasters watched with dread as Hurricane Melissa lumbered across the Atlantic Ocean, morphed into a monster, and took aim at the islands of the Caribbean. As predicted by the National Hurricane Center, landfall was catastrophic: While officials are still tallying the costs, both in lives lost and property destroyed, at least 67 people were killed across Jamaica, Cuba, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic. AccuWeather estimates $50 billion in damages .

Even before the storm walloped Jamaica and continued its slog north, scientists explained just how climate change helped turn the hurricane into an exceptional Category 5 storm with 185-mph winds: The warm waters it used as fuel were made up to 900 times more likely by global warming, helping bump up those wind speeds by 10

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