Hurricane Sandy: Is climate change to blame?

Sandy is the second big storm to rip through the East Coast in two years, but scientists say we can't call it a trend, nor can we blame it solely on global warming

A wave crashes against the shore in Montauk, N.Y., as Hurricane Sandy made her way up the East Coast on Oct. 29.
(Image credit: Sheila Rooney/Getty Images)

"New York isn't known for its hurricanes," says Will Oremus at Slate. "At least, it never has been before." But after Hurricane Sandy collided into a cold front coming down from Canada to create a hybrid superstorm that ravaged large swaths of New York City and New Jersey — just a year after Hurricane Irene made its own unwelcome mark on the region — lots of people are wondering if the Big Apple is becoming a featured stop in hurricane alley, and why? Climate scientists aren't very encouraging on the question for residents up the East Coast. Is global warming responsible for Sandy's massive destruction, and is the Northeast doomed, as New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) quipped, to "have a 100-year flood every two years now"?

Did climate change cause Hurricane Sandy?

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