This year brought a literal whirlwind of destruction in the form of hurricanes. The 2024 Atlantic hurricane season ended last month, marking one of the deadliest and costliest seasons in recent history. And storms are likely to get worse in the coming years, leading to potentially fatal consequences.

The deadliest hurricane since 2005
Hurricanes were a highlight of 2024, largely due to warming temperatures caused by climate change. In 2024, the "average person worldwide experienced 34 days of 'risky heat' between June and August," said ClimateWire. "Those are conditions hotter than 90% of the temperatures ever recorded locally between 1991 and 2020." And warmer oceans act as fuel for hurricanes.

While climate change has "not led to an increase in the total number of hurricanes hitting the U.S. each year," said NPR, the "storms that do form are more likely to become more intense, with higher wind speeds, heavier rainfall and more severe storm surge." Several major hurricanes made headlines this year, including Beryl, Helene and Milton. 

Record-breaking round of storms
The Atlantic hurricane season set many records this year. "Between June 1 and the end of November, 18 named storms formed across the basin," with "11 becoming hurricanes and five strengthening into major cyclones, " said Fox Weather. "Eight hurricanes made landfall, five of which struck the U.S." 

This classified 2024 as a "very active" season, with "initial damage estimates" putting losses at "around $200 billion," said Fox Weather. That made 2024 the "second-costliest season on record." 

The new normal?
Intense hurricanes are going to have massive economic consequences. "Home insurance costs have more than doubled in the U.S. over the past two decades," said Yale Climate Connections. 

Deadly hurricanes will also become more of a staple without efforts to curb emissions. "Five out of every six hurricanes had this really strong statistically robust signal where human-caused climate change was really clearly increasing the intensity of these storms," said climatologist Daniel Gilford, who released a study analyzing the last several hurricane seasons, to NPR. As the U.S. ushers in a second Donald Trump presidency, climate action may be lost in the wind.

If you have a favorite automotive brand, there's a good chance it's made by Stellantis. Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Jeep and Maserati fall under the company's umbrella. But Stellantis is stumbling.

CEO Carlos Tavares resigned this month, said Fortune. Stellantis posted "record annual results" for 2023, but in September, Tavares revealed Stellantis' plans to "liquidate a bloated U.S. inventory of vehicles at bargain-basement prices." Tavares "prioritized short-term success at the cost of longer-term problems," said critics.

"All kinds of problems lurked" behind Stellantis' 2023 success, said CNBC. High prices and quality problems, notably in the ever-more-costly Jeep line, dogged the company's brands. As a result, profits "plummeted by nearly half" during the first six months of 2024, and U.S. sales fell 20% in the third quarter, though industry sales are up overall.

What did the commentators say?
"What a mess it is," Gus Carlson said at The Globe and Mail. Dodge, Jeep and Ram were once "workhorse" brands, but they have increasingly "turned away loyal buyers" with "stubbornly high luxury-level prices." 

Tavares was once seen as a "visionary dealmaker."  But he made a misstep with a basic rule of business: "Know what value means to your customers and price your products accordingly," said Carlson. Instead, he ended his tenure in a blaze of "tone-deaf strategy and bad leadership."

The problem at Stellantis "boils down to product and price," Steven Cole Smith said at Hagerty. The company needs to find a surprise in its product pipeline to "instill confidence" and create buzz. 

Chrysler has been left for dead repeatedly over the decades, only to emerge with hit products like minivans in the 1980s and the Dodge Ram pickup in the 1990s. "Each represented outside-the-box thinking," said Smith, "backed by the willingness to take chances."

What next?
The dealers who sell Stellantis vehicles are "breathing a sigh of relief" at Tavares' departure, said The Detroit Free Press. And they are optimistic about the company's future. "It's like buying a house — it's got great bones," said an anonymous Michigan dealer. 

But they still have to move slow-selling vehicles off their lots, and price remains an issue, meaning there's still trouble in the short term. If you are going to bet on Stellantis' future, another dealer said, "you wouldn't bet it on a $113,000 product — you would bet it on a $30,000 product."