Two powerful hurricanes and a strengthening tropical storm on Wednesday were churning through the Pacific Ocean, where waters were being warmed by a historically strong El Nino climate episode. Furthest west is Hurricane Lowell, followed by Hurricane Karina. Both of the Category 4 storms are anticipated to pass well to the south and to the northeast of Hawaii, respectively, according to the National Hurricane Centre (NHC). However, there remains uncertainty about their forecast tracks, with the possibility of gustier trade winds and increased rainfall impacting the islands as a result of Lowell.
Hawaii is still recovering from the impacts of Hurricane Lala, which brushed past the southern part of Big Island, bringing destructive winds and severe flash floods. Hurricanes Lowell and Karina are trailed to the east by Tropical Storm Marie, currently a few hundred miles south of Baja California and 'expected to become a hurricane later today,' the NHC said. 'El Nino warming sets the stage for these storms, which are fuelled in large part by warm waters -- when the tropical Pacific is warmer than normal we see an increase in strong storms,' climate scientist Julia Cole of the University of Michigan told AFP.
A train of three cyclones 'is definitely rare to see,' she added. A similar train of four cyclones happened in 2015, another intense El Nino year when Typhoon Kilo, Hurricane Ignacio, Hurricane Jimena and Tropical Depression 14E all worked their way west across the Pacific at once. This year's El Nino has a 69 percent chance of becoming the strongest on record, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and is already unleashing extreme weather across the globe even though it is not expected to peak until sometime around November.
Peru, the world's largest catcher of anchovy, is facing a devastating blow from warming seas that have gutted production, according to industry officials. In Sudan, El Nino is blamed for delaying crucial rains that have led water levels in the Nile to drop precipitously. Climate change increases El Nino's impacts, as greenhouse-gas-warmed atmosphere holds more moisture, making rains more extreme and deepening droughts worldwide.