Typhoons batter East Asia as El Niño makes Pacific 'burn with fever'

In August, Typhoon Chan-Hom baffled storm watchers in Japan by crossing the country from east to west, as opposed to the usual south-to-north trajectory. Japan's well-resourced and prepared authorities were able to evacuate people swiftly, but this would be far more challenging in some neighbouring countries.

To get a better picture of how rising temperatures could amplify the risks, Manila-based climatologist Rafaela Jane Delfino and colleagues simulated the effects of warmer conditions on the Philippines' most recent monster storms, including 2013's Super Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) which killed more than 6,000 people.

They arrived at what she describes as "very, very scary findings": higher temperatures increased total accumulated rainfall by 26%.