Since July there have been many storms that have moved through the Bering Sea and the question, "are storms getting stronger?" is a common one.
However, it's not an easy question to answer because there are many different ways of defining storm strength.
Meteorologists have long used the lowest sea level pressure to classify storm strength, but this is not something that most people can see or feel. Hurricane and typhoon strength is classified by the highest sustained wind speeds, but this doesn't take into account the size of the storm.
Modern analysis methods allow for estimates of the total energy in a storm, but none of these methods consider storm impacts at specific locations because impacts are the end result of many simultaneous factors in the ocean, in the atmosphere, on land and in society.
This is where lived experience and local expertise is needed to provide a useful answer to, "are storms getting stronger?"
