Are recent natural disasters in the Caribbean and the US linked to climate change?

Answer: This is a strange question. Quite correctly the disasters are described as natural.

For hundreds of years there have been hurricanes in the Atlantic. Most were not recorded, occurring at sea or making landfall in unoccupied areas, or inhabited areas where no records were kept. But almost certainly many thousands of years ago there were no hurricanes in the area – the weather systems that produce them probably existed elsewhere or not at all.

Climate changes, naturally. And therefore recent disasters are linked to natural climate change. But the whole history of hurricanes is affected by natural climate change.

It’s interesting that the number of Atlantic hurricanes, despite much better recording, has not increased. See https://www.gfdl.noaa.gov/historical-atlantic-hurricane-and-tropical-storm-records/

The cost of hurricanes making landfall has soared however, but this is simply because more people owning more things live in the affected areas. The hurricanes themselves are no stronger and no more frequent than before.

0
icon