 And that's exactly the kind of thing climate scientists have been expecting. We're seeing record high ocean temperatures, which fuel hurricanes, and those record temperatures are being driven by climate change. Burning fossil fuels releases gases like carbon dioxide to trap heat and make the air and oceans warmer. Andrew Garner is a hurricane expert at Rowan University in New Jersey. She says warm water allowed beryl to grow so quickly over the weekend that it shocked a lot of people.