Three tropical cyclones are turning in the South Pacific, a fact that scientists say it is unusual.
Rae, Seru and Alfred tropical cyclones are agitated since the region is at the peak of a season that begins in November and ends in April.
The storms are called cyclones when they occur in the southwest of the Pacific and hurricanes when they form in the North Atlantic, but are essentially the same phenomenon.
“It is not incredibly unusual to have three hurricanes simultaneously in the month of September at the North Atlantic,” said Brian Tang, a professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Albany. “It is certainly a very busy period for the South Pacific and three tropical cyclones is a lot that happens at the same time, but not without precedents.”
The last time there were three of these storms in the South Pacific was January 2021 when Lucas, Ana and Bina were stirring simultaneously, although it is not clear if Bina officially reached the state of category 1, Tang said.
Rae formed on Friday north of Fiji and brought winds to beat and heavy rains that damaged fruit trees, according to local reports.
Alfred developed at the Coral Sea on Monday and is expected to bring flood rains to the northeast of Australia de Queensland this weekend.
Seru became a cyclone on Tuesday and is expected to track near the isuatu island nation, but remain at the high seas.
Scientists say it is difficult to say, but any explanation begins with the high activity that is usual at this time of year.
Gabriel Vecchi, a climate scientist at Princeton University, pointed out evidence of what is called an oscillation of Madden -Julian, a fluctuation in the atmosphere that results in an air and rain spot surrounding the globe and lasts 30 days or more. He said that it seems to be tracking on the southwest of the Pacific in a way that could improve the activity of the cyclone.
“The atmosphere is chaotic. There is a lot of natural fluctuation … We need to be open to the possibility that the factors that are beyond our ability to predict could have taken these three cyclones at the same time, “said Vecchi.
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