In an article in today's Sydney Morning Herald,
Peter Hannam reports
on a trio of category 4 strength tropical storms in the Pacific.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Peter Hannam, Sydney Morning Herald
Hurricanes Kilo and Ignacio were to the west and east of the Hawaii Islands on Monday, while Jimena spun further to the east.
Jimena is hovering over waters of about 28 degrees warmth, more than the 26.6 degrees needed to maintain intensity.
The storm's maximum sustained winds were about 240 km/h, and it attracted the interest of astronauts orbiting Earth in the International Space Station, who posted images to social media site Twitter.
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American astronaut and engineer,
Scott Kelley tweeted -
"#Jimena in the Pacific is a massive storm. Makes the moon look puny. #YearInSpace".
Japanese astronaut,
Kimiya Yu tweeted -
"Hurricane JIMENA. It's really scary to see the eye of the hurricane closely... "
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Peter Hannam, Sydney Morning Herald
El Nino builds
The unusual flurry of tropical storms in Pacific is adding to the potency of the El Nino event. The hurricanes tend to disrupt or counter the easterly trade winds that typically blow along the equator, allowing yet more heat to build up in the eastern parts of the ocean.
The elevated sea-surface temperatures in turn provide more energy for hurricanes (or cyclones or typhoons - as the storms are known in different regions) to develop.
On Monday, the Bureau of Meteorology's weekly temperature reading showed anomalous warmth has exceeded 2 degrees in the key Nino 3.4 region of the equatorial Pacific.
That level had not been reached since the 1997-98 El Nino event in 1997-98, considered to be the most powerful recorded.
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Story and images here -
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/we...30-gjbb82.html
