This rare, destructive, subtropical monster was supersized by unusually warm Mediterranean waters. Medicanes are the smaller siblings of the hurricanes and typhoons that barrage coastal locations around the world. While medicanes are rare, their destructive power can be immense—especially when they hit countries ill-equipped to cope with such ferocious weather events. Similar to hurricanes, changes in temperature and humidity across the Mediterranean Sea drive the creation of medicanes. Warm sea surface temperatures are the fuel for the more powerful medicanes that climate scientists say will be the new normal.
