After Spate of Typhoons & Hurricanes, World’s Oceans May Take a Breather

With the remnants of Hurricane Florence wringing out heavy rain through the Appalachians and New England this week, and Typhoon Mangkhut winding down in southern China, it looks like the world’s oceans may take a breather.

There are few significant threats in either the Atlantic or the Pacific now, forecasters say. That’s not unusual; after a burst of tropical storms, hurricanes and typhoons, there’s often a period of calm.

As large storms pass through a basin, they typically churn up cooler water that robs any new storms of the fuel they need to develop. Last week, the Atlantic had four named storms traversing through its relatively narrow basin, while Mangkhut took a very long path through the Pacific before striking the Philippines and China.

There’s still plenty of time for new storms to develop before the Atlantic storm season officially winds down at the end of November. But for now at least things will be quiet.

Related:

• Hurricane Florence’s Surge Is Expected to Hit Homes That Already Cost the Government Millions: ProPublica
• Hong Kong, Southern China Restoring Operations After Super Typhoon
• Record Numbers of Named Hurricanes Form in Pacific, with Much Quieter Atlantic

Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters Hurricane