In 2012 Hurricane Sandy developed into a "superstorm" that caused disastrous flooding in New York City and elsewhere. Scientists could not say whether climate change altered the likelihood that such storms would happen. But they thought it likely that recent warming of the ocean surface had made Sandy stronger than it otherwise would have been (world-wide, the hurricanes with highest winds seemed to be getting even stronger). And the modest rise of sea level in the past century, caused by global warming, had sent storm surges farther inland to add billions of dollars to the storm’s cost.

David Shankbone via Wikimedia Commons