Storms Are Not All Bad; They Provide Benefits to Earth

While cyclone activity can cause
massive destruction, science shows
that God can transform turbulence
into a testament of His grace

 

No Wasted Storm:
Six Surprising Strategic Ways Storms
Contribute to Earth System’s Balance

by Dr. Sarah Buckland-Reynolds

The 2025 hurricane season is upon us, and those who reside near coastlines in storm-affected basins may be in high gear  preparing for a projected above-average season. While hurricanes are known for their destructive power, a June 2025 article by Brandon M. Genco and colleagues in the Science Advances Journal highlights their simultaneous beneficial role and useful function.

Genco and colleagues highlighted a trove of previous studies on hurricane functions. It formed the basis of their continued exploration of the impacts of hurricane activity. Quoting from the article, Genco et al stated that:

Tropical cyclones are known to fuel phytoplankton blooms through mixing, entrainment, and upwelling of nutrients into the upper water column, resulting in an overall increase in primary productivity throughout the ocean….In the ETNP [Eastern Tropical North Pacific Ocean], modeling and remote sensing analyses indicate that tropical cyclones support ~15% of net primary production (NPP) and have driven a long-term increase in chlorophyll concentrations. This suggests an important biogeochemical role for tropical cyclones in the ETNP.

As storms provide a whopping 15% of global Net Primary Production (NPP), they are crucial for maintaining the energy required to support human, animal, and plant ecosystems. Once remaining offshore, these systems play a surprising vital role in earth’s balance.

This startling revelation gives us reason to ask: How did such a destructive force evolve the capabilities to support thriving life on Earth?

Super Storm, Super Strengths

Genco and colleagues dug deeper into the functional outcomes of cyclones by examining a super storm: Category 4 hurricane case study (‘Bud’). Among other impacts, they found that hurricane Bud resulted in ” increased water column productivity” and “elevated particulate organic carbon and chlorophyll concentrations, demonstrated production and accumulation of distinct organic compounds—including phytoplankton biomarkers—within a hurricane-generated phytoplankton bloom”.

The case of Hurricane Bud demonstrates a broader picture of orchestrated equilibrium. Hurricanes require precise atmospheric conditions to form. Their movement and structure also depend on specific conditions in the lower and upper atmosphere.

From an evolutionary perspective, what reasons explain how hurricanes “evolved” to contribute to a broader system of climate balance?

Beyond Bud: Six Environmental Functions of Cyclones

1. Cyclones as Cooling Agents

As has been documented by the American Meteorological Society, storms absorb heat energy to build their massive convective towering cumulonimbus cloud system. In doing so, they form a vital role in the global heat balance by redistributing heat from the tropics. The precipitation from storms also enables further temperature regulation at various levels in the atmosphere.

2. Whirls of Water: Cyclones’ Role in Rainfall & Freshwater Supply

Many regions rely on storms to replenish lakes, rivers, and groundwater. In a study published in the Journal of Climate, it was found that cyclones may contribute up to 50% of the mean annual rainfall in regions such as northwestern Australia, southeastern China, the northern Philippines, and Baja California, Mexico.

3. Rotations Renewing Ecosystems

Strong winds and floods promote new plant growth along with a host of other strategic outcomes. Even evolutionary journal Austral Ecology, pointed out several positive impacts of hurricanes on ecosystems, including that storms:

….change the ecological space available to organisms; they set organisms in motion; they increase the heterogeneity of the landscape and the variability in ecosystem processes; they rejuvenate the landscape and its ecosystems…; they shape forest structure…

4. Feeding Soil Fertility

Through frequent lightning discharges, storms promote nitrogen fixation. This enriches soil and boosts agricultural productivity.

Research published in Physics Reports over the past decade by Dwyer and Uman found that:

A typical small thunderstorm system produces a lightning flash to ground every 20–30 s for 40–60 min and covers an area of typically 100–300 km² (roughly a circle on the ground with a radius between 6 and 10 km). Large storm systems can produce more than one flash to ground each second over areas a hundred times larger or even more.

5. Masterful Mixing for Nurturing Oceans

While hurricanes can reduce water clarity by stirring sediments or cause short-term oxygen depletion in certain localized regions, they typically improve nutrient distribution in oceans, fostering phytoplankton growth.

Because phytoplankton absorb carbon dioxide during photosynthesis, they play an important role in maintaining climate balance. Hurricane-driven mixing can enhance this carbon capture temporarily. Additionally, hurricanes prevent ocean stagnation. Without mixing, ocean layers can become stratified, trapping nutrients below. Hurricanes disrupt this stagnation, ensuring nutrient circulation.

6. A Gyre to Guide: The Function of Waterborne Disease Control

Flooding can clear stagnant waters, disrupting mosquito breeding. This final attribute of hurricanes of churning and contaminant isolation has been mimicked by various engineering innovations. For instance, cyclone separators use storm-like swirling forces to remove particles from air or liquid streams, while vortex-based water purification systems that mimic intense swirls to remove, streamlining filtration.

Evolutionists Fail to Explain the Winds of His Will

These surprising outcomes of hurricanes, from nutrient distribution to ecological balance, point out that purpose and grace can even be found in otherwise destructive forces. Yet, some evolutionary authors simply reduce them to tools of natural selection and ‘survival of the fittest,’ a claim that collapses under rigorous examination.

If hurricanes were truly shaping species through evolution, we would expect organisms to gradually develop specific genetic adaptations in response to them. Instead, we do not see new traits evolving to withstand hurricanes; rather, species rely on pre-existing resilience, which suggests intrinsic traits rather than evolutionary progression. Exposed species such as brown pelicans, seabirds and even sharks have been seen to detect falling barometric pressure and migrate to safety. Evolutionists believe these traits developed gradually over time, but if they had not been present from the beginning, what would be the likelihood of the continuity of these species over millions of years?

Even in human infrastructure, hurricanes do not “select” stronger civilizations—they force communities to rebuild using intelligence, foresight, and planning. Such qualities cannot be attributed to blind evolutionary forces, but point instead to human ingenuity and God-given adaptability. Once we properly steward His creation, we humans can even reduce much of the destructive potential of hurricanes.

He Still Speaks through the Storm

As we prepare for the 2025 hurricane season, let us also reflect on how storms remind us of God’s grace. Simultaneously, storms also remind us that we are mortal and can never know how long we have to repent and trust God. In all the literal and figurative storms of life, God remains in absolute control and has a purpose in all things. Jesus Himself used the storm as an opportunity to display divine authority and power (Mark 4:39).

Let us therefore praise God through the storm, because, far from being an “evolutionary survival mechanism”, storms reveal creation’s dependence on God’s providence: both in natural forces and in human resilience.

God’s Power and Grace in the Storm
(selected Scriptures by Editor)

He stirs up the sea with His power, And by His understanding He breaks up the storm. (Job 26:12)

God thunders marvelously with His voice; He does great things which we cannot comprehend. (Job 37:5)

“Can you lift up your voice to the clouds,
That an abundance of water may cover you?
Can you send out lightnings, that they may go,
And say to you, ‘Here we are!’?
Who has put wisdom in the mind?
Or who has given understanding to the heart?” (Job 38:34-36)

The waters saw You, O God;
The waters saw You, they were afraid;
The depths also trembled.
The clouds poured out water;
The skies sent out a sound;
Your arrows also flashed about.
The voice of Your thunder was in the whirlwind;
The lightnings lit up the world;
The earth trembled and shook.
Your way was in the sea,
Your path in the great waters,
And Your footsteps were not known.
You led Your people like a flock
By the hand of Moses and Aaron. (Psalm 77:16-20)

O Lord my God, You are very great:
You are clothed with honor and majesty,
Who cover Yourself with light as with a garment,
Who stretch out the heavens like a curtain.
He lays the beams of His upper chambers in the waters,
Who makes the clouds His chariot,
Who walks on the wings of the wind,
Who makes His angels spirits,
His ministers a flame of fire.
You who laid the foundations of the earth,
So that it should not be moved forever,
You covered it with the deep as with a garment;
The waters stood above the mountains.
At Your rebuke they fled;
At the voice of Your thunder they hastened away.
They went up over the mountains;
They went down into the valleys,
To the place which You founded for them.
You have set a boundary that they may not pass over,
That they may not return to cover the earth. (Psalm 104:1-9)

Those who go down to the sea in ships,
Who do business on great waters,
They see the works of the Lord,
And His wonders in the deep.
For He commands and raises the stormy wind,
Which lifts up the waves of the sea.
They see the works of the Lord,
And His wonders in the deep.
For He commands and raises the stormy wind,
Which lifts up the waves of the sea.
They mount up to the heavens,
They go down again to the depths;
Their soul melts because of trouble.
They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man,
And are at their wits’ end.
Then they cry out to the Lord in their trouble,
And He brings them out of their distresses.
He calms the storm,
So that its waves are still.
Then they are glad because they are quiet;
So He guides them to their desired haven.
Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness,
And for His wonderful works to the children of men! (Psalm 107:23-31)

Whatever the Lord pleases He does,
In heaven and in earth,
In the seas and in all deep places.
He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth;
He makes lightning for the rain;
He brings the wind out of His treasuries. (Psalm 135:6-7)

Praise the Lord from the earth,
You great sea creatures and all the depths;
Fire and hail, snow and clouds;
Stormy wind, fulfilling His word. (Psalm 148:7-8)

The Lord is slow to anger and great in power,
And will not at all acquit the wicked.
The Lord has His way
In the whirlwind and in the storm,
And the clouds are the dust of His feet. (Nahum 1:3)

You divided the earth with rivers.
The mountains saw You and trembled;
The overflowing of the water passed by.
The deep uttered its voice,
And lifted its hands on high.
The sun and moon stood still in their habitation;
At the light of Your arrows they went,
At the shining of Your glittering spear. (Habakkuk 3:9-11)

On the same day, when evening had come, He [Jesus] said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side.” Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”

Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!” (Mark 4:35-41)

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Dr. Sarah Buckland-Reynolds is a Christian, Jamaican, Environmental Science researcher, and journal associate editor. She holds the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Geography from the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona with high commendation, and a postgraduate specialization in Geomatics at the Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia. The quality of her research activity in Environmental Science has been recognized by various awards including the 2024 Editor’s Award from the American Meteorological Society for her reviewing service in the Weather, Climate and Society Journal, the 2023 L’Oreal/UNESCO Women in Science Caribbean Award, the 2023 ICETEX International Experts Exchange Award for study in Colombia. and with her PhD research in drought management also being shortlisted in the top 10 globally for the 2023 Allianz Climate Risk Award by Munich Re Insurance, Germany. Motivated by her faith in God and zeal to positively influence society, Dr. Buckland-Reynolds is also the founder and Principal Director of Chosen to G.L.O.W. Ministries, a Jamaican charitable organization which seeks to amplify the Christian voice in the public sphere and equip more youths to know how to defend their faith.