Zombie storms are rising from the dead thanks to climate change - Live Science

"Because 2020, we now have Zombie Tropical Storms.

Earlier this month, Tropical storm Paulette formed in the Atlantic Ocean and made landfall in Bermuda as a Category 1 hurricane, according to CNN.

But zombie storms are going to happen more often, said Donald Wuebbles, a professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

There has been an "extreme amount of heating of the Gulf (of Mexico), particularly in some of the ocean areas off of the Carribean," Wuebbles told Live Science.

The Gulf of Mexico, where many hurricanes gain strength before hitting the U.S., is particularly vulnerable to global warming because the gulf waters are very shallow — and thus heat up easily, Wuebbles said.

They then "race across" the ocean toward the Americas, Wuebbles said.

Hurricanes need warm water and moist air to form, according to the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research.

Storms grow if there's a continuous supply of energy from warm water and air, and they weaken when they move over cooler waters or over land.

For instance, about a month ago, Hurricane Laura strengthened overnight from a Category 1 storm to a Category 4 storm because it picked up energy from warm water in the Gulf, Wuebbles said.