While the hurricane once seemed to be targeting directly at the North Shore of Oahu, it passed slightly north, causing minimal damage to the islands. In July 2020, Hurricane Douglas passed north of Hawaii, bringing heavy rain and strong winds to all the islands. Hawaii typically experiences about four or five tropical cyclones each year although during the 2015 hurricane season, Hawaii had around fifteen tropical cyclones. Hurricane season in Hawaii is roughly from between June 1 and November 30 each year. And the season has already gotten off to quite a head start.Hawaiian hurricanes typically form in the Pacific Ocean. As CPC’s outlook indicates, an above-normal hurricane season is likely for 2015. Conversely, strong wind shear tilts the thunderstorms with height, dispersing the energy over a wider area which can either prevent a hurricane from forming or even destroy an existing hurricane.Īs El Niño is expected to continue and likely strengthen throughout the 2015 hurricane season, we will probably see many more tropical storms, hurricanes, and major hurricanes over the eastern Pacific before the season ends. Weak wind shear allows thunderstorms to develop vertically, making it easier for tropical storms and hurricanes to intensify. Hurricanes require that thunderstorms develop nearly straight-up (vertically) so that the energy of the storm is concentrated near the center. NOAA map, based on OISST data.Įl Niño makes the region friendlier for the development and strengthening of hurricanes because vertical wind shear (the changing of wind direction or speed with height) decreases. The warmer than normal waters provided extra fuel for developing hurricanes at the end of May and beginning of June. Seas were above-average in the region due to ongoing El Niño conditions. Sea surface temperature anomalies over the eastern Pacific Ocean for the week of May 25-31. Only 1956 saw a quicker start to the season, when the eastern Pacific’s third hurricane and fourth named storm arrived by June 12. Looking back, this was the second earliest that three hurricanes formed in the eastern Pacific. Three hurricanes forming before the middle of June is a rare occurrence. However, Carlos’s track close to the southern Mexican coast will mean heavy rains and flooding for coastal areas. Unlike the previous storms, however, Carlos encountered stronger winds in the upper atmosphere that were less friendly for significant additional strengthening. On June 11, tropical storm Carlos formed closer to the Mexican coastline than Blanca, and after several days of strengthening, reached hurricane strength on June 13. And there was still one more storm waiting in the wings. Clearly, 2015 was already well ahead of schedule. ![]() This was the earliest landfall of a tropical system on the Baja Peninsula since records began in 1949.Ī remarkable two major hurricanes formed by the first week of June in the eastern Pacific hurricane region! It usually takes until July 14 for two hurricanes to form, and until August 19 for two major hurricanes to develop. Blanca’s track, though, took it over the southern tip of the Baja California Peninsula as a tropical storm on June 8. Subsequently, Blanca, like Andres, moved north into cooler waters and began to weaken. NOAA image by the Environmental Visualization Lab. ![]() GOES East view of Hurricane Blanca at 1445Z on June 3, 2015. As the storm moved to the north, Blanca rapidly re-strengthened on June 6 into a Category 4 storm with 130-mile-per-hour winds. However, Blanca’s final story was not written just yet. By June 5, Blanca had been downgraded to a Category 1 hurricane. This cold upwelling cut off the supply of warm water, weakening the hurricane. However, Blanca lingered over the same patch of ocean, churning up the ocean below and bringing deeper, colder water to the surface. On June 3, Blanca became a Category 4, major hurricane with 140-mile-per-hour winds. ![]() On June 2, Blanca became a hurricane, the earliest second hurricane on record for the eastern Pacific Ocean. As Andres moved farther to the northwest and weakened, Blanca strengthened. ![]() If Andres was the older brother, Blanca was the younger sister struggling to get out of his shadow. Right on Andres’ heels came Blanca, forming to the northeast of where Andres had formed only four days earlier. GOES West satellite view of Hurricane Andres (upper left) and Tropical Storm Blanca (lower right) on June 2, 2015.
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