By SETH BORENSTEIN
AP Science Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - A new study finds that big, destructive hurricanes are hitting the U.S. three times more frequently than they did a century ago.

Experts generally measure a hurricane's destruction by adding up how much damage it did to people and cities. That can overlook storms that are powerful, but that hit only sparsely populated areas. A Danish research team came up with a new measurement that looked at just the how big and strong the hurricane was, not how much money it cost.

Since 1900, hurricanes with the widest area of destruction are happening 3.3 times more frequently. The two biggest, by far, were 2017's Harvey and 2005's Katrina.

The study is Monday's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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