Meteorologist: Cyclone that hit Fiji and killed at least 21 people fueled by ocean heat

At least 21 people were killed and entire villages flattened on Saturday when Cyclone Winston and its 200-mph winds hit Fiji, and a meteorologist says that the temperature of the ocean played a major role in strengthening the storm.

Bob Henson, a meteorologist and climate blogger at Weather Underground, told Al Jazeera "the warmer the sea-surface temperature, the stronger a tropical cyclone can get. Sea-surface temperatures have been especially warm this year across much of the tropical Pacific, largely as a result of the current El Niño on top of the long-term warming." Officials in Fiji say the country's remote outer islands have been cut off because of the cyclone, and the death toll could rise once more information is available.

The earth's oceans have soaked up more than 90 percent of the extra heat trapped in the atmosphere by greenhouse gases, and most climate models show a higher number of storms will reach Category 5 in strength over the next few decades. Experts say islands in the Pacific will be vulnerable to rising seas and storm surges caused by elevated ocean temperatures, and in October, Fiji's meteorological service issued a forecast warning of above-average cyclone activity in the area because of El Niño, Al Jazeera reports.

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