A hurricane has become a typhoon for the first time in three years amid an intense Pacific storm season.
After scraping its way just south of the Hawaiian Islands, Hurricane Nolo regained strength and continued to move west across the Pacific on Sunday, according to the National Hurricane Center.
As of 11 a.m. ET, on Oct. 4, Nolo was once again designated a major hurricane, moving west at about 18 mph. It crossed the International Date Line at 5 p.m., officially entering the Western Pacific where it was reclassified as a typhoon.
The National Weather Service forecast office in Honolulu told The Epoch Times in an email that Nolo will keep its name as it continues west, but instead of being called Hurricane Nolo, it will be Typhoon Nolo.
Forecast maps show the storm moving toward Japan, but no watches or warnings have been issued.
The Joint Typhoon Warning Center forecast Nolo will gradually weaken but retain its typhoon status for the next three days as it continues its westward push over open water. It’s expected to downgrade to a tropical storm on Oct. 7.
Hurricanes and typhoons are both tropical cyclones with maximum sustained winds of at least 74 mph. However, cyclones that form in the Atlantic Ocean; the Eastern Pacific off the coast of California, Mexico, and Central America; and the Central Pacific around Hawaii are classified as hurricanes.
Those that form in the Western Pacific and affect the Philippines, Japan, China, and the Far East are called typhoons.
Nolo boasted maximum sustained winds of 115 mph, which made it a Category 3 hurricane on the morning of Oct. 4.
It became a hurricane on Sept. 24 as it turned north, threatening Hawaii. Ultimately, its eye and most destructive forces stayed south and away from the archipelago, and wind shear dethroned it of its hurricane status in the early morning hours of Sept. 30.
According to the National Hurricane Center, Nolo regained hurricane status around 5 p.m. on Oct. 2, and reintensified on Oct. 3.
The National Weather Service forecast office in Honolulu told The Epoch Times that Pacific hurricanes have occasionally crossed the date line and become typhoons.
The last named storm to be classified as both was Hurricane/Typhoon Dora in 2023.
Dora was the first cyclone since Hurricane John in 1994 to pass through all three Pacific Basins as a hurricane.
In 2018, Hurricane Hector completed the trek as a major hurricane in the Eastern Pacific and through the Central Pacific, but crossed the International Date Line as a weakening tropical storm.
Nolo is the seventh named storm, the sixth hurricane, and the fourth major hurricane to appear in the Central Pacific this season. That makes this season’s count of five named storms, five hurricanes, and four major hurricanes above the Central Pacific’s recorded average between 1991 and 2020.
The forecast office in Hawaii said that this year’s unusually active Pacific hurricane season is primarily due to the El Niño weather pattern.
The hurricane season in the Eastern and Central Pacific ends on Nov. 30.
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