It was a historic moment in meteorology late last week, when three Category 4 storms were simultaneously spotted marching across the Pacific. As if that wasn’t ominous enough, a tropical depression has just added itself to the mix.




Yesterday, NASA’s GOES satellite captured this beautifully ominous image (below) of one typhoon (Kilo), one hurricane (Jimena), one tropical storm (Ignacio), and one tropical depression (Fourteen E) churning across the ocean in synchrony. It’s the very first time scientists have seen more than two Category 4 storms on the Pacific at once. But as we know, it’s an exceptional year —there’s a monster El Nino brewing on them thar seas. And if the weather on the water right now is any indicator, the western US is in for a major walloping this fall.


None of the storms pictured here threaten the land, so we can all just enjoy their swirling animosity from afar. And stock up on giant umbrellas.

[NASA Earth Observatory]



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Image credits: NASA