Photo and Excerpt from www.scientificamerican.com

In late October, a monster storm named Lola hit the Southern Hemisphere, a week before the official start of the cyclone season, producing the earliest recorded Category 5 cyclone. Violent winds battered the island nation of Vanuatu, reaching 295 kilometers per hour (183 miles per hour). Lola created a trail of destruction that left more than 40,000 children in need of humanitarian assistance and caused widespread damage to homes, schools, infrastructure and crops. When it struck, Vanuatu had barely picked up the pieces from record-breaking disasters in March that wreaked havoc within 48 hours of each other: two Category 4 cyclones named Judy and Kevin.

We know that climate change in the region is linked to the increasing intensity and earlier onset of such extreme weather events. Not to mention sea level rise, changing weather patterns and ocean warming. The costs are brutal; every year, small island nations in the Pacific incur an estimated $1.075 billion in economic losses, equivalent to at least 5 percent of their combined GDP, while more than 50,000 Pacific people are displaced consequent to climate and disaster-related events.