An Already Intense Pacific Hurricane Season With a Long Way to Go

It’s already been an intense hurricane season in the Pacific Ocean — and there’s still quite a ways to go.

Warning areas and potential impact

Tropical storms have spawned in what seems like assembly-line fashion in recent weeks, as El Niño conditions that emerged in June have caused waters to grow warmer than normal, setting off a chain of unusual weather around much of the world.

“It’s ramping up to be perhaps the strongest El Niño on record,” University of Miami hurricane expert Brian McNoldy said.

The number of hurricanes in the eastern Pacific has already surpassed what occurs in a typical season.

This week alone, Hurricane Polo drenched Mexico’s Pacific coast as it seesaws between Category 4 and 5.

And in storm-weary Hawaii, there’s the potential for catastrophic flooding from a growing Hurricane Nolo.

During El Niño, low-level surface winds blowing from east to west across the Pacific are weakened or sometimes reversed.

It causes a shift in the jet stream and drives record global heat, severe droughts, wildfires and shrinking water supplies.