A Hurricane Season for the Books
Hurricane Isaias formed so late in the season that it set an Atlantic Ocean record. The Pacific is on a very different track.
For over four months, the Atlantic saw little to no hurricane activity, a significant lull in the storm season. This calm act was interrupted recently by Hurricane Isaias, a Category 3 storm with winds reaching 115 miles per hour, which is forecast to make landfall near the Alabama-Florida border. Daniel Brown, the operations division chief at the National Hurricane Center, told reporters that a hurricane was expected.
Meanwhile, in the Pacific, two major storms are brewing. Hurricane Simon is expected to intensify into a Category 4 and hit Mexico's coast, while Tropical Storm Rachel could impact Southern California. This season's weather pattern, characterized by calm winds in the Atlantic and intense storms in the Pacific, is reminiscent of El Niño conditions.
The Pacific's unusually warm waters, up to 4 degrees Celsius above average, have fueled a surge of 19 named storms this season. This pattern, described as a "Super El Niño," could signal a potentially record-breaking year in terms of storm intensity.
Written by urgent.news from The Atlantic's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
