Study: Superstorms like Sandy to become less frequent

A study looking at the likelihood of another storm as powerful as Superstorm Sandy finds that storms of equal magnitude will become less likely in the future. The full study is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

According to the study, “climate models consistently project a decrease in the frequency and persistence of the westward flow that led to Sandy’s unprecedented track.” Those results signal a long-term trend, scientists say, that could mean fewer superstorms to hit the U.S. East Coast.

Of course, weather conditions change quickly along with forecasts. But fewer superstorms in the future would mean less costly damage and loss of life along the East Coast.

Image: Superstorm Sandy after making landfall on the U.S. East Coast (Credit: NASA)