Color-enhanced infrared satellite image of 12 June 2014 showing Hurricane CRISTINA off the Pacific coast of Mexico and, to its south, part of the ‘belt of tropical activity’ extending more than 9,000 kilometers across the Pacific ocean
Earlier today, Thursday 12 June 2014, around 0500 Pacific time Hurricane CRISTINA off the Pacific coast of Mexico reached category 4 strength in the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. So, in about 24 hours this tropical cyclone, the 3rd named storm of the 2014 eastern Pacific Hurricane Season, went from a tropical storm to a strong major hurricane. That is quite a rapid intensification indeed!
Satellite image for the aviation industry on 12 June 2014 showing Hurricane Cristina and other tropical weather activity extending across the ocean close to the equator
During the afternoon hours, and even more this evening, CRISTINA has began to interact with a less favorable ocean-atmosphere environment where wind shear is already affecting it and surface waters although still quite warm, will be getting progressively cooler along the projected storm track.
Visible light satellite image of 12 June 2014 showing a close-up of Hurricane CRISTINA and its eye in the early afternoon hours
Projected track for Hurricane CRISTINA developed by the U.S. Navy Research Lab on the basis of NOAA data on 12 June 2014
As CRISTINA continues to move generally WNW, it is interesting to note that to its south and extending more than 9,000 kilometers there is a train of large tropical waves and storm cells reaching from northern South America into the far western tropical Pacific ocean and beyond. A clear sign that conditions for tropical cyclone development are growing more favorable in the northern hemisphere.
Infrared satellite image of 12 June 2014 showing Tropical Cyclone NANAUK overt the Arabian Sea as it moves NW toward Oman
Projected track for cyclone NANAUK as of 12 June 2014 developed by the U.S. Navy Research Lab. on the basis of NOAA data
At the opposite side of the planet, in the Arabian Sea, category 1 Tropical Cyclone Nanauk continues to move toward Oman.
Color-enhanced infrared satellite image of 12 June 2014 showing the ‘tropical wave assembly line’ over Equatorial Africa is populated by a train of disturbed weather cells marching westward toward the Atlantic and the southern region of ‘hurricane alley’
Elsewhere satellite imagery shows a train of tropical waves moving westward over Equatorial Africa toward the warm waters of the Atlantic to the south of the Cape Verde Islands, but ‘hurricane alley’ show little ‘traffic’ at this time.
Full-Earth disk composite satellite image of 12 June 2014 showing the status of the ‘belt of tropical activity’ over the western hemisphere from the Atlantic to the eastern Pacific
Full Earth-disk composite satellite image of 12 June 2014 over the Pacific Ocean showing the status of the ‘belt of tropical activity’ there
It is clear that the various ocean basins in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans, are showing the effects of warming surface waters and atmosphere in terms of numerous cells of disturbed weather and storms on a daily basis. Continuous monitoring by vulnerable communities around these basins is certainly warranted.
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