Formed on October 22 and dissipated on October 31, 2012, Hurricane Sandy is know as the deadliest and most destructive hurricane of 2012. Not only the most destructive, but the second-costliest hurricane in United States history as well. The damage in the United States alone amounted to $65 billion, according to the New York Times.

Developed from a tropical wave in the western Caribbean Sea, Sandy gradually intensified. On October 24^th Sandy became a hurricane, hit Jamaica, the Caribbean Sea, Cuba, and then the Bahamas. and affected 24 states in the U.S.

In an interview hosted on ‘Green’ by the New York Times, Kevin E. Trenberth, a scientist with the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder Colorado, stated that “Natural variability very likely accounted for the bulk of that temperature extreme”. It has been noted that summer sea ice in the Arctic has fallen by roughly half since the late 1970’s, a change most climate scientists believe has been caused largely by human-induced warming.

In the article “Did Global Warming Contribute to Hurricane Sandy’s Devastation”, it was stated that human induced global warming has been human-induced global warming has been raising the overall temperature of the surface ocean, by about one degree Fahrenheit since the 1970s. So global warming very likely contributed a notable fraction of the energy on which the storm thrived — perhaps as much as 10 percent, Trenberth said.

Regardless if there is hard evidence or not, the way the planet has changed due to human destructive actions definitely has an effect, small or large.  In  ‘Climate Change Partly to Blame for Hurricane Damage’ by Douglas Main, stated that “Climate change likely made Hurricane Sandy worse than it otherwise would have been. Hurricanes and tropical stormed would occur with our without global warming. But  many climate models suggest that such storms will become more intense as the plant warms”

Overall, hurricane Sandy has greatly left its mark and it has been said that it has also made the geography of New York more susceptible to storm surges. The immensity of this hurricane will probably never be forgotten and I hope people are being more cautious not only for themselves, but for our planet, knowing that it cannot sustain more damage.

http://www.livescience.com/24338-hurricane-sandy-photos-frankenstorm.html

http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/13/world/americas/hurricane-sandy-fast-facts/