Pacific sees three hurricanes as El Niño amplifies global storm activity
The National Weather Service’s Boston office posted on X on Friday that the weekend would bring “strong winds and rough seas along with a prolonged period of steady rain across the region,” with rain potentially continuing through Monday. The office identified “beach erosion, coastal flooding, and wind damage including downed limbs and power outages” as the main concerns.
The nor’easter had the potential to deliver hurricane-force winds despite lingering uncertainty over its exact track, according to forecasters. Areas farther inland were also bracing for the storm’s arrival. AccuWeather forecast winds of 40 to 60 mph along the coast from New Jersey to Maine beginning late Friday, with gusts reaching up to 80 mph in and around Montauk, New York.
“The nor’easter has strengthened over the Atlantic and is expected to stay closer to the shoreline. This will bring more rain inland, but more importantly stronger winds closer to shore,” AccuWeather expert meteorologist Elizabeth Danco said in a statement. “This region has experienced soaking rains in recent weeks, making it particularly susceptible to falling trees and flooding.”
Rainfall forecasts called for up to 8 inches in parts of southeastern Massachusetts, up to 2 inches in Boston from Friday into Saturday, and similar amounts in New York City a day later. High wind warnings were in place in Boston and neighboring areas on Friday morning.
The Weather Channel cautioned on its website that “New York City and especially Boston need to stay weather aware this weekend, and prepare the same as you would for a tropical storm.” The channel also addressed the seasonal timing. “You might think it is too early for a nor’easter, but the criteria are met more often than you would think,” the channel said, adding that “most people usually think of snow and ice with nor’easters because [they] do tend to occur more in the late fall and winter.”
While the worst impacts — flooding and beach erosion — were expected closer to the coast, travelers were warned to expect significant flight cancellations and delays, and difficult driving conditions.
In the Pacific, Hurricane Nolo was forecast to pass about 80 miles south of Hawaii’s Big Island early Saturday as a major Category 3 storm, bringing what AccuWeather’s hurricane experts described as “five days of torrential rain through Monday, catastrophic flooding and mudslides.” Although not forecast to make landfall, Nolo was expected to bring life-threatening flash floods.
Hurricane Polo, which had intensified rapidly from a tropical storm to a Category 5 storm earlier in the week, was about 250 miles south-southwest of Mexico’s Jalisco coast on Friday with 160 mph winds, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said. The center warned that Polo’s winds “are likely to cause life-threatening surf, rip currents, and coastal flooding.” The storm was forecast to curve around and make landfall in Baja California on Sunday night or Monday morning as a much-weakened hurricane.
A third hurricane, Category 4 Odalys, was forecast to remain at sea with few to no impacts on land.
The El Niño that has contributed to 18 named storms in the Pacific basin this season had the converse effect in the Atlantic, where no hurricanes had formed by September 21 — the first time that had happened since 1914. Both hurricane seasons run through November 30.