With super-warm ocean temperatures and low wind shear, “all the stars were aligned for it to intensify rapidly,” said Kerry Emanuel, professor emeritus of atmospheric science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. We used to have this metric of 35 mph, and here’s a storm that did twice that amount, and we’re seeing that happen more frequently,” said Shepherd, who describes what happened with Lee as hyperintensification. “This one increased by 80 mph (129 kph),” Shepherd said. ![]() "That extra heat comes back to manifest itself at some point, and one of the ways it does is through stronger hurricanes,” Shepherd said.ĭuring the overnight hours Thursday, Lee shattered the standard for what meteorologists call rapid intensification - when a hurricane’s sustained winds increase by 35 mph (56 kph) in 24 hours. “If that trend continues, that brings into play places like Washington, D.C., New York and Boston.” HYPERINTENSIFICATIONĪs the oceans warm, they act as jet fuel for hurricanes. “Hurricanes are getting stronger at higher latitudes,” said Marshall Shepherd, director of the University of Georgia’s atmospheric sciences program and a past president of the American Meteorological Society. Lee - which just as quickly dropped to a still-dangerous Category 3 and held that strength Saturday - could still be a harbinger as ocean temperatures climb, spawning fast-growing major hurricanes that could threaten communities farther north and inland, experts say. Gerald Herbert/AP Show More Show LessĪTLANTA (AP) - Hurricane Lee is rewriting old rules of meteorology, leaving experts astonished at how rapidly it grew into a goliath Category 5 hurricane. Only about 4.5% of named storms in the Atlantic Ocean have grown to a category 5 in the past decade, said Brian McNoldy, a scientist and hurricane researcher at the University of Miami. Category 5 status - when sustained winds are at least 157 mph or 253 kph - is quite rare. Gerald Herbert/AP Show More Show Less 4 of4 FILE - Rescue personnel perform a search in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael in Mexico Beach, Fla., Thursday, Oct. ![]() ![]() Rebecca Blackwell/AP Show More Show Less 3 of4 FILE - Downed trees are seen from the air near Tyndall Air Force Base in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael near Mexico Beach, Fla. (NOAA via AP) AP Show More Show Less 2 of4 FILE - Pick up trucks and debris lie strewn in a canal in Horseshoe Beach, Fla., after the passage of Hurricane Idalia, Wednesday, Aug. Lee is rewriting old rules of meteorology, leaving experts astonished at how rapidly it grew into a goliath Category 5 hurricane. 1 of4 This satellite image provided by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration shows Hurricane Lee, right, in the Atlantic Ocean on Friday, Sept.
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