Storms and Floods

Tropical Storms - Roundup of Tropical Storms:

In the Eastern Pacific Ocean: Tropical Storm Aletta is located about 445 mi...715 km sw of Manzanillo Mexico with maximum sustained winds...65 mph...100 km/h. Present movement...w or 280 degrees at 7 mph...11 km/h.

In the Western Pacific Ocean: Tropical Depression 05w (Ewiniar), located approximately 175 nm west-southwest of Hong Kong, is tracking northeastward at 05 knots.

Hurricanes are slowing down, making floods worse

Last year, Hurricane Harvey dumped more than 5 feet of rain on the Houston area in just a few days making it the heaviest rainstorm the U.S. has ever recorded. Now, a new study shows that multiple factors, each of them climate change-related, are raising the risk of similar, meandering hurricanes in the U.S. and other parts of the globe.

A new study published Wednesday in Nature finds that tropical cyclones — which is a catch-all term for hurricanes and typhoons — move more slowly than they used to. This, combined with the increase in rainfall already expected to occur from such storms as the seas and air temperatures warm, paints a troubling picture of future storms.

Over land areas affected by hurricanes in the North Atlantic Ocean Basin, the study found that hurricanes have shown a decrease in forward speed of about 20% during the period.

In the western North Pacific Ocean, where some of the world's most intense and damaging storms strike, that slowdown over land areas has been closer to 30%.

Storms have also slowed down over Australia, by about 19%.

Slower storms have more time to dump greater amounts of rainfall, and this, combined with the capacity of a warmer atmosphere to hold more moisture, means we should expect tropical cyclones to pose more water dangers than ever before.