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SCIENCESaturday 24 October 2015

Why did Hurricane Patricia become a monster so quickly?

SETH BORENSTEIN A sand sculpture carved with a message that reads in Spanish; “Welcome to Vallarta” decorates the beach in Puerto Vallarta,
AP Science Writer Mexico, Friday, Oct. 23, 2015.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Hur-
ricane Patricia zoomed Associated Press
from tropical storm to re-
cord-beater in 30 hours flat anic and Atmospheric Ad- like this.” ever, most storms don’t around five to six. A Cat-
like a jet-fueled sports car. ministration’s Hurricane Re- In the Eastern Hemisphere, have accurate measure- egory 5 storm has winds of
Why? The Pacific storm had search Division. satellite estimates mea- ments because most don’t 157 mph or higher.
just the right ingredients. By 4 a.m. EDT Friday Patri- sured Typhoon Nancy at get planes flown into them The eastern and northern
Plenty of warm water pro- cia’s winds were a record 215 mph in 1961 and Ty- unless they are a threat, Pacific regions have had
vided the energy what for hurricanes: 200 mph. phoon Violet at 205 mph Emanuel said. more tropical storms than
meteorologists call explo- “Incredible. also in 1961, but satellite He’s part of an experiment usual this season; the Atlan-
sive intensification. You don’t see many like measurements aren’t as with the U.S. Navy, drop- tic has had less.
The air was much moister this,” said former hurricane precise, Masters said. ping measuring devices That’s a classic signature of
than usual, adding yet hunter meteorologist Jeff (Hurricanes, typhoons and from planes into Patricia for the weather pattern called
more fuel. And at the Masters, cyclones are all the same the past three days. El Nino — with warmer wa-
same time, upper-level meteorology director of thing with different names.) Worldwide, this is the ninth ters to feed storms and fa-
crosswinds — called shear the private Weather Un- Super Typhoon Haiyan that Category 5 storm this year, vorable winds in the Pacific
— that restrain a hurricane derground. “In fact in devastated the Philippines which is tied for the sec- and unfavorable winds in
from strengthening were the Western Hemisphere, in 2013 was measured at ond most on record, Mas- the Atlantic, Masters and
missing for much of Thurs- we’ve never seen anything 195 mph via satellite. How- ters said. Normal years are others said.q
day, meteorologists said.
“I was really astounded,”
said MIT meteorology pro-
fessor Kerry Emanuel. “It
was over the juiciest part
of the eastern Pacific.”
El Nino’s fingerprints are all
over this, meteorologists
agreed. And while it fits
perfectly into climate sci-
entists’ theories of what a
warming world will be like,
they say global warming
can’t quite be blamed —
yet.
At 10 p.m. EDT Wednes-
day, Patricia was a tropical
storm off Mexico with 65
mph winds that forecast-
ers expected to intensify
rapidly. In fact, one fore-
cast gave it a 97 percent
chance of getting stronger
fast.
But it strengthened so
quickly that many were
surprised, said Robert Rog-
ers at the National Oce-