And I'll note again.
If this type of intensification continues (Hurricane Beryl experienced similar intensification), the National Weather Service may need to come up with a new term beyond the current "rapid intensification" that it current uses.
... One of the widest hurricanes on record slammed into Florida's Gulf Coast on September 26 as a powerful Category 4 storm, inundating Florida's coast with meters-high storm surge and sending tropical storm"force winds as far as 500 kilometers from its eye.
Helene -- like so many hurricanes in recent years -- seemed to spin up out of nowhere.
Just three days earlier, it was a disorganized cluster of thunderstorms off the eastern coast of Mexico's Yucatn Peninsula. A mere "tropical disturbance," it was dubbed PTC9 for tracking purposes. But on September 24, the U.S. National Hurricane Center released a startling forecast for PTC9.
Within just 60 hours, NHC predicted PTC9 would intensify at a record-breaking pace, going from winds less than 35 knots (about 65 kilometers per hour) to hurricane-force winds of at least 100 knots (185 kilometers per hour).
It was the fastest predicted spin-up from disturbance to major hurricane in the NHC's history. ...
Rapid intensification is becoming a new normal for hurricanes.
NHC defines rapid intensification as when a storm's maximum sustained winds jump by at least 56 kph (35 miles per hour) in less than a day (SN: 9/13/23).
Against a backdrop of ongoing, record-breaking tropical water temperatures, numerous storms in the last few years have met and even surpassed this definition (SN: 6/15/23). In 2023, for example, Atlantic hurricanes Idalia and Lee ratcheted up their intensity by about 58 kph within 24 hours.
Helene isn't just a textbook case of such rapid intensification -- it's the star student.
Scientists have been gritting their teeth, anticipating just such an event, given 2024's superhot waters. ...
[emphasis mine]