Eight tropical cyclones at once were in the North Pacific Ocean over the weekend. Image: Weather Channel
For the first time in more than 40 years, eight cyclones hammered away at the same time in the Pacific Ocean on July 22nd.
While it’s not all that rare to have more than one cyclone in the area at once, eight is something that almost never happens. It started in the central Pacific, when two named cyclones Fernanda and Greg were joined by Tropical Depression Nine-E and Tropical Depression Ten-E. The depressions were upgraded to cyclones Hilary and Irwin. At the same time, in the western Pacific, cyclones Kulap, Roke, and Noru were whirling around. Tropical Depression Eight-W gained strength until it too was upgraded to Tropical Storm Sonca.
“On average, 36 tropical cyclones form each year in the northwestern Pacific and southwestern Pacific basins, combined,” wrote Jon Erdman for the Weather Channel. “Another 16-17 form each year in the central and eastern north Pacific basin.”
So far, July has been a very active month in the North Pacific. The western part, however, stayed, for the most part, relatively quiet. Then, however, something called the Madden-Julian Oscillation happened. “Areas near the equator don’t get cold fronts. The only changeable weather over a relatively short period of time is a roughly 30-60 day wet/dry cycle triggered known as the Madden-Julian Oscillation,” Erdman explained. “The MJO is essentially a wave of energy in the atmosphere that propagates eastward around the Earth near the equator once every 30-60 days.”
While most of the storms won’t make landfall, there’s a decent chance it’s good news for surfers. Keep an eye on the forecast, because we could be in for a damn good run of swell.
