Tag Archives: cyclones

Breaking Science Flash: Mexico’s Cyclone Patricia could become STRONGEST HURRICANE ever measured – ‘Category 6’

[Edit: Hurricane behaviour is notoriously hard to predict. After reaching extreme wind speeds above the Pacific, hurricane Patricia quickly disintegrated above land. The main damage might now be in extreme rainfall, flooding and possible mudslides – no longer direct wind … Continue reading →

2015 El Niño produces new climate record: 3 simultaneous Pacific category 4 hurricanes

Small Island States don’t (yet*) make global headlines, but this NASA picture shows a new Pacific climate record, which has a story for us all.

NASA satellites see Tropical Storm Irina getting loopy

Tropical Storm Irina

his image from NASA's TRMM satellite shows rainfall in the remnants of Tropical Cyclone Irina on March 5 at 2:23 a.m. local time/South Africa. Numerous intense storms in the southern and eastern quadrant were dropping rainfall at a rate of over 50mm per hr / ~2 inches (red). Light to moderate rainfall is depicted in blue and green was falling at a rate between .78 to 1.57 inches (20 to 40 mm) per hour. Credit: Credit: SSAI/NASA, Hal Pierce

Two NASA satellites have been measuring rainfall and cloud top temperatures in Tropical Storm as it has been “going loopy” in the Mozambique Channel over the last couple of days. Irina is making a cyclonic loop, something that a tropical cyclone does on occasion whenever there are a couple of weather systems that push it in different directions.

On March 5, 2012, Irina’s maximum sustained winds had increased to near 50 knots (57.5 mph/92.6 kph), , up from 40 knots (46 mph/74 kph) over the last several days. Forecasters at the Joint Typhoon Warning Center expect Irina to strengthen more at sea over the next day, and then begin to weaken.

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Indian aerosol pollution stimulates tropical cyclones over Arabian Sea – because of monsoon disturbance

White sulfur aerosols cool the climate; black carbon soot warms the climate. So when you mix the two kinds of aerosol pollution up in the Asian brown cloud, one would expect climate effects to even out. Unfortunately in our physical … Continue reading →

Does cyclone modification geoengineering make sense?

Is what a group of engineering policy researchers and atmospheric scientists from Carnegie Mellon and MIT asked themselves. Considering increasing hurricane damage around the Gulf of Mexico – and technological options – they get to a ‘maybe’.