Doctoral candidate Hunter Quintal’s critical research on extreme weather faced funding challenges –– until The Graduate School stepped in.
By Ethan Quinn
The intense flooding in Orange County brought by Tropical Depression Chantal was more than just another entry in Hunter Quintal’s database of storms impacting the U.S. It also served as a vivid reminder of the urgent importance of his research. Quintal, a fourth-year doctoral candidate in the Earth, marine and environmental sciences department, studies extreme weather events, especially in the Southeastern U.S., where the frequency of these events and the risks they pose are transforming rapidly.
Quintal’s research draws on rainfall data from across the country to understand trends in storm frequency, intensity and duration, while also uncovering how overlapping weather hazards, like heat waves, can magnify rainfall intensity, subsequent flooding and damages. By improving how these events are identified and modeled, Quintal aims to give planners, engineers and emergency managers more precise tools to manage local risks.
That work recently faced a critical hurdle. An unexpected grant termination left Quintal without funding for the summer. The Graduate School responded by providing two months of emergency “bridge” funding, allowing him to continue his research.
This funding was especially timely, as July saw parts of Orange, Durham, Chatham and Moore Counties experience the worst flooding since Hurricane Fran in 1996. These storms followed soon after a long-lasting heat wave that blanketed much of the U.S. While Quintal’s work is not directly related to prediction and emergency response for storms like Chantal, it could play a role in preventing and responding to the damage caused by these storms in the future.
“Heat waves could be leading to more intense storms, like the one we just saw in Central North Carolina, or the one that we just saw sweep away 100 people in Central Texas,” Quintal said. “We need to have a better understanding of how frequent those combinations of storms are and where they can happen.”
Quintal’s work may be essential to serving communities facing intensifying natural hazards. By collecting data on storms and related weather events across the country, Quintal is improving our ability to assess the risk of flooding in specific areas, which can help to shape policy and potentially save lives. His work can inform policy actions such as redrawing flood zones, relocating critical infrastructure, or supporting the uptake and solvency of flood insurance.
“We need high quality climate and weather information now more than ever, because we really don’t know what the future holds for us,” he said. “And that is a scary prospect, especially when people are now unexpectedly being caught in floodwaters. At the end of the day, we’re here to help each other and keep each other safe.”
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