Shocking phenomenon: three cyclones are spinning in a row in the South Pacific; what is the cause?
On Tuesday, with the recent tropical activity in the South Pacific, a relatively rare weather event was reported: three cyclones, Alfred, Rae and Seru, rotating in a row at the same time.
According to CNN and NBC News, this phenomenon had not occurred since four years ago, in January 2021, when tropical cyclones Bina, Ana and Lucas sustained winds of up to 80 km/h while they were active simultaneously.
Rae formed last Friday north of Fiji, bringing strong winds, heavy rains and disruptions to power supplies in some areas, CBS News reported. The outlet also mentioned significant damage to crops and fruit trees.
Alfred, for his part, formed in the Coral Sea on Monday and is expected to bring rain that could cause flooding in the state of Queensland, Australia, this weekend. Authorities have advised people to stay at home and follow safety guidelines.
Finally, Seru was upgraded to cyclone status on Tuesday. It is forecast to head towards Vanuatu . Although experts say it will not make landfall, local authorities have issued warnings for possible storm surges and heavy rains.
(You may be interested in: Tuvalu, the first digital country in the world )
Three tropical cyclones are spinning in a row at the same time. Photo: X: @Stormyalert
According to the Fiji Meteorological Service, the tropical cyclone season in the South Pacific runs from November to April, with peaking between January and March.
It is worth mentioning that tropical storms are called hurricanes when they hit the North Atlantic and are categorized as cyclones when they occur in the South Pacific. Both phenomena are exactly the same.
Hurricanes and cyclones are the same phenomenon, the only difference is their name, depending on their location. Photo: istock
Although the first forecasts expected the season to end below average due to the low activity and the incidence of the La Niña phenomenon, the truth is that the three cyclones have become a rather attractive event.
What do the experts say? According to meteorological experts, this event is quite peculiar. On CBS News , Brian Tang, professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Albany, explained that “ it is not unusual for there to be three hurricanes simultaneously in the North Atlantic in September, but in the South Pacific it is a less frequent situation .”
According to experts, the coincidence of the three storms could be due to the influence of the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) phenomenon; an atmospheric fluctuation characterized by the spread of rain eastwards from the equator; according to the Australian Government's Meteorological Centre.
The three storms may have been linked by the Madden-Julian Oscillation (reference image). Photo: iStock
The phenomenon occurs every few weeks to months and can repeat every 30 to 60 days. Gabriel Vecchi, a climate scientist at Princeton University, told the Associated Press that the oscillation could be responsible for the intensification of cyclone activity in the South Pacific.
"The atmosphere is chaotic. There's a lot of natural fluctuation in it... we need to be open to the possibility that factors beyond our ability to predict could have led to these three cyclones at the same time," the scientist explained to AP.
EDITORIAL LATEST NEWS
Maria Juliana Cruz Marroquin
eltiempo
