Post by Admin on Sept 7, 2015 10:53:33 GMT 8
Typhoon Kilo spins toward longest-lived cyclone on Earth this year
Typhoon Kilo, the everlasting Pacific Ocean storm, has achieved quite a bit in its long lifetime. Previously a hurricane, Kilo was reclassified into a typhoon as it hopped the international dateline on Tuesday. Now, forecast to strengthen over the next several days, Kilo is likely to become the longest-lived tropical cyclone in any ocean basin this year – swirling through the Pacific for at least another week.
We first started talking about Hurricane Kilo back on Aug. 19. It wasn’t a hurricane yet, just an area of thunderstorms that many forecast models were suggesting could threaten Hawaii.
Kilo did develop from that disturbance, and while it missed Hawaii (by a long shot), it continued to organize and strengthen into a monster Category 4 hurricane — the region’s second of the season thus far — with sustained winds of 140 mph. On Sunday, Hurricane Kilo was the westernmost in a trio of Category 4s, the first time three storms of that intensity spun simultaneously in the northeast Pacific Ocean since satellite records began in the 1960s.
Kilo is still out there — spinning west across the largest ocean on Earth, though it has a new moniker and did a little time warp in the process. On Tuesday night, Kilo crossed the international dateline that bisects the Pacific Ocean. The eastern side is managed by NOAA’s Central Pacific Hurricane Center, which calls tropical cyclones “hurricanes.” The western side is monitored by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center, where tropical cyclones are called “typhoons.”
Thus, as Kilo crossed the dateline, it went from hurricane to typhoon. Japan’s hi-res Himawari-8 satellite snagged an image of the “hurriphoon” as it straddled the realms, skipping one day ahead to Sept. 2. It’s the third tropical cyclone to cross the dateline so far this year.
Incredibly, Typhoon Kilo is expected to keep on truckin’ through late next week. While the storm is just a Category 1 on Wednesday with winds of 85 mph, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center expects Kilo to reintensify into a Category 4 over the weekend. Some models suggest the typhoon could pose a risk to Japan next weekend, though it’s still too soon to tell whether the storm will continue that long, or if it will turn north before reaching land.
By the end of this week, Kilo will be the longest-lived tropical cyclone of the season in any ocean basin. The previous longest cyclone so far this year was Typhoon Halola, which formed on July 10 and dissipated on July 26.
While Typhoon Kilo is definitely a long-lived tropical cyclone, it’s nowhere near the all-time record duration for such a storm. The record-longest tropical cyclone on Earth was Hurricane (Typhoon) John in 1994, which lasted an amazing 31 days as it trekked across the Pacific, crossing the dateline just like Kilo did. Typhoon Kilo will probably end about a week short of John’s impressive record.
As it turns north, Kilo will undergo what we call “extratropical transition” — meaning it will lose the characteristics that make it a typhoon and will turn into a (strong) low pressure system that will get scooped into the jet stream. So eventually, the remnants of “Hurriphoon” Kilo could be raining out over North America.
Typhoon Kilo, the everlasting Pacific Ocean storm, has achieved quite a bit in its long lifetime. Previously a hurricane, Kilo was reclassified into a typhoon as it hopped the international dateline on Tuesday. Now, forecast to strengthen over the next several days, Kilo is likely to become the longest-lived tropical cyclone in any ocean basin this year – swirling through the Pacific for at least another week.
We first started talking about Hurricane Kilo back on Aug. 19. It wasn’t a hurricane yet, just an area of thunderstorms that many forecast models were suggesting could threaten Hawaii.
Kilo did develop from that disturbance, and while it missed Hawaii (by a long shot), it continued to organize and strengthen into a monster Category 4 hurricane — the region’s second of the season thus far — with sustained winds of 140 mph. On Sunday, Hurricane Kilo was the westernmost in a trio of Category 4s, the first time three storms of that intensity spun simultaneously in the northeast Pacific Ocean since satellite records began in the 1960s.
Kilo is still out there — spinning west across the largest ocean on Earth, though it has a new moniker and did a little time warp in the process. On Tuesday night, Kilo crossed the international dateline that bisects the Pacific Ocean. The eastern side is managed by NOAA’s Central Pacific Hurricane Center, which calls tropical cyclones “hurricanes.” The western side is monitored by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center, where tropical cyclones are called “typhoons.”
Thus, as Kilo crossed the dateline, it went from hurricane to typhoon. Japan’s hi-res Himawari-8 satellite snagged an image of the “hurriphoon” as it straddled the realms, skipping one day ahead to Sept. 2. It’s the third tropical cyclone to cross the dateline so far this year.
Incredibly, Typhoon Kilo is expected to keep on truckin’ through late next week. While the storm is just a Category 1 on Wednesday with winds of 85 mph, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center expects Kilo to reintensify into a Category 4 over the weekend. Some models suggest the typhoon could pose a risk to Japan next weekend, though it’s still too soon to tell whether the storm will continue that long, or if it will turn north before reaching land.
By the end of this week, Kilo will be the longest-lived tropical cyclone of the season in any ocean basin. The previous longest cyclone so far this year was Typhoon Halola, which formed on July 10 and dissipated on July 26.
While Typhoon Kilo is definitely a long-lived tropical cyclone, it’s nowhere near the all-time record duration for such a storm. The record-longest tropical cyclone on Earth was Hurricane (Typhoon) John in 1994, which lasted an amazing 31 days as it trekked across the Pacific, crossing the dateline just like Kilo did. Typhoon Kilo will probably end about a week short of John’s impressive record.
As it turns north, Kilo will undergo what we call “extratropical transition” — meaning it will lose the characteristics that make it a typhoon and will turn into a (strong) low pressure system that will get scooped into the jet stream. So eventually, the remnants of “Hurriphoon” Kilo could be raining out over North America.
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