Hurricanes and Climate Change
Provided by: MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative|Published on: April 27, 2021|Last updated: September 26, 2026
Grades: 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
Type: Lesson Plans
Subjects: Earth and Space Sciences, Engineering, Computer Science
Authors: MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
Synopsis
- This resource about hurricanes and climate change includes a lesson plan, student worksheet, podcast, discussion, interactive computer modeling, and a graphing and data analysis exercise.
- Students will learn about how hurricanes form, the economic costs of these storms, how climate change is making these storms more extreme, and what some coastal communities are doing to adapt.
Teaching Materials
Positives
- The podcast provides a great explanation of the science behind hurricane formation.
- The educator guide can help incorporate this topic into many subject areas including science, math, English language arts, and design.
Additional Prerequisites
- Students should know how to graph data.
- A timestamped transcript accompanies the podcast for offline use.
Differentiation
- The economic costs of hurricanes are discussed, which could be used to open a conversation on trade-offs between the costs of climate change and the costs to implement solutions.
- To add a more personal component that students could connect to, explore these Youth Climate Stories from Florida, Puerto Rico, and North Carolina.
- Other resources on hurricanes include the lesson plan Hurricanes, the NOAA Hurricane Tracker, and the video How Climate Change Has Intensified Hurricane Season.
This resource includes a podcast in which an MIT expert is interviewed and discusses the relationship between tropical cyclones (a.k.a. hurricanes) and our changing climate. The interactions between the atmosphere and the ocean are discussed, and the impact of sea level rise and storm surges on coastal communities is examined. A transcript and educator's guide, along with additional resource links, are provided. This resource is recommended for teaching.
Teaching Tips
Standards
Resource Type and Format
Scientist Reviewed
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Our review process ensures that every resource in our library reflects the current state of climate science.
Learn about our review process →
