As Americans reel from deadly hurricanes, meteorologists can communicate the human costs of global heating

Some have called Hurricanes Helene and Milton an October surprise. Yet such disasters are now dispiritingly predictable. In their wake, pundits have asked whether and how the storms – which happened to hit some key swing states – could impact a presidential election shaping up to be decided by razor-thin margins.

There’s practical concerns, such as whether some affected voters will physically be able to cast their ballots. And then there’s a political question: will the fact that the climate crisis exacerbated these hurricanes raise the importance of that issue? Or will that be counterbalanced by those who have become convinced the government engineered these disasters to suppress electoral power?

Katrina vanden Heuvel is editorial director and publisher of the Nation, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and has contributed to the Washington Post, the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times