Unless you are a Climate & Weather Geek like me, you are probably clueless as to what Rapid Intensification means. You will not be for long, especially if you live in coastal areas. Read the text below.
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. This was Hurricane Helene.
Just three days earlier, it was a disorganized cluster of thunderstorms off the eastern coast of Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula. Within just 60 hours, The National Hurricane Center predicted cluster would intensify at a record-breaking pace, going from winds less than 35 knots (about 40 miles per hour) to hurricane-force winds of at least 100 knots (115 miles per hour).