Quantcast
Channel: Environment
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 2972

Something historic is happening with hurricanes in the Pacific Ocean — and it could mean trouble

$
0
0

There are some storms a-brewin' ...

And although none of them have made landfall, they're making part of the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii resemble a Van Gogh painting.

three hurricanes

Here's a photo showing Hurricanes Kilo, Ignacio, and Jimena from left to right. This is the first time three Category 4 storms have been seen in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean at one time, according to The Weather Channel. Category 4 hurricanes have wind speeds anywhere from 130 to 156 mph.

Hurricanes are categorized primarily by wind speeds: The higher the sustained wind speed, the stronger the hurricane. A Category 1 hurricane has winds up to 74 to 95 mph, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says they're typically expected to cause some damage to buildings as well as power outages for a few days.

A Category 4 hurricane is considered catastrophic, with severe damage to buildings and power outages for weeks if not months.

By Sunday, Kilo and Ignacio had eased up to Category 3. So far, none of the hurricanes have made landfall. Ignacio, the one closest to Hawaii, has been weakening ever since Saturday, and now looks like it might miss the islands completely.

Jimena is still a Category 4, but is still a few days off from running into Hawaii.

Here's another shot of the storms via the NOAA's View Data Exploration Tool August 30:

TRUE.daily.20150830.color.bbox=33.75,171.562, 5.625, 118.125.full_res

The uptick in hurricanes is consistent with El Niño predictions. The NOAA predicted a 70% chance of an above-normal hurricane season.

Looks like we're getting exactly that ...

CHECK OUT: One of the world's most threatening glaciers just lost a chunk large enough to cover Manhattan in 1,000 feet of ice

UP NEXT: Eye-opening photos show how New Orleans is still struggling 10 years after the costliest natural disaster in US history

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: A devastating look at the California drought


Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 2972

Trending Articles



<script src="https://jsc.adskeeper.com/r/s/rssing.com.1596347.js" async> </script>