Climate Central

Tropical Storm Andrea (2025) and Climate Change

How oceans warmed by climate change influenced this tropical cyclone

Tropical Storm
Last updated: 1 month ago
Change Units

Climate change's effect on Tropical Storm Andrea (2025)

Not available
Wind speed change as a result of climate change
Not available
Category change as a result of climate change
+1.3°C
While intensifying, Andrea passed over waters made 1.3°C warmer, on average, by climate change.
3x more likely
Climate change made the ocean temperatures along Andrea's intensifying path 3 times more likely.

Peak storm point

Andrea at its peak

On June 24, 2025 at 12 PM UTC

Peak strength
Tropical Storm
Peak wind speed
40 mph

How did climate change fuel Andrea?

Human-caused carbon emissions trap heat in the atmosphere, and the oceans have absorbed about 93% of that excess heat since 1970. This is due to their vast depth and area, and seawater's higher capacity for retaining heat compared to air. Every tenth of a degree of ocean warming increases the risks of stronger storms and higher sea levels.

Warmer oceans provide more fuel for tropical cyclones, leading to stronger winds and greater potential damage. Potential wind-related damages increase roughly four times with each storm category jump (1 to 5), but even smaller increases in wind speed, without a category change, can dramatically raise the destructive power of a storm.

At the same time, rising sea levels caused by climate change can amplify the storm surge potential when storms occur, putting coastal residents at particular risk.

Finally, warmer air and oceans are leading to heavier tropical cyclone rainfall. These higher rainfall rates raise the risk of inland flooding, which has caused over half of hurricane-related deaths in the U.S.

Climate change is warming ocean waters worldwide, including in the tropics.
Warmer ocean temperatures fuel tropical cyclone strengths.
While intensifying, Andrea passed over waters that were, on average, 1.3°C warmer due to climate change.
How climate change fuels more dangerous storms
Download this image

Learn more about the science

The Climate Shift Index: Tropical Cyclones (Tropical Cyclone CSI) builds on the foundation of our Climate Shift Index: Ocean (Ocean CSI).

Ocean CSI is a peer-reviewed system developed by Climate Central to measure the fingerprint of climate change on ocean temperatures. It indicates how human-caused climate change — driven by humans burning fossil fuels and emitting aerosols — has influenced the likelihood of daily sea surface temperatures at nearly any location around the world's oceans.

As ocean temperatures warm in response to climate change, they provide fuel for tropical cyclones (including hurricanes), increasing their wind speeds. Tropical Cyclone CSI, also developed from peer-reviewed research, quantifies this effect by calculating the increase (or decrease) in a tropical cyclone's wind speeds due to those warmed ocean waters and tropical climate warming.

Have questions about how we quantify climate change's impact on hurricane intensity, and how you can incorporate this data into your work? Explore our frequently asked questions here, or you can contact our team below.

Read more

Contact Climate Central's tropical cyclone attribution team

We're available to explain more about our science or give an interview.

Data submitted through this form is subject to our Privacy Policy.
Contact our Experts

Use of materials

Permission to use graphics and materials from this page is granted for non-commercial uses, commercial news purposes, and educational purposes as governed by our Terms of Use. Please refer to that document for specifics.