A strengthening El Nino is stirring up a dangerous mix of typhoons and hurricanes across the Pacific, fuelling storms that have killed hundreds, disrupted trade and caused billions of dollars in damage. Another storm neared Japan on Monday and more could be possible in the region through Nov.The situation stands in contrast to a very quiet Atlantic, which has had its calmest start since 1941. Pacific cyclones have caused more than 230 deaths since April, media reports show, while natural disasters – including three back-to-back storms – caused an estimated $8.5 billion in direct economic losses in China in July alone, according to US govt statistics.The disruption hasn’t been confined to communities in the storms’ paths. Container shipping giant Maersk issued an advisory this month saying a string of severe typhoons had caused congestion at some of the region’s biggest ports, reducing on-time vessel arrivals.Driving the activity are two overlapping sources of ocean heat. El Nino, which occurs when the equatorial Pacific warms and the atmosphere above it reacts, has been strengthening since it emerged in June and is creating conditions that favour tropical cyclones across much of the Pacific. Twelve tropical cyclones formed across the basin and the South China Sea in Aug, the most in a single month since 1961, according to the Hong Kong Observatory.At the central and eastern Pacific, at least 17 systems have reached tropical storm strength, with six becoming hurricanes and four reaching major status with winds of 179 km per hour or more.This is a Bloomberg story.
