Videos · October 21, 2026 · 39 seconds

Rapid Intensification: Why Pacific Hurricanes Explode Overnight

Name: Rapid Intensification: Why Pacific Hurricanes Explode Overnight
Uploaded: 2026-10-21T19:25:00.000Z
Duration: 39 s
Description: Hurricane Rachel jumped from a Category 1 to a major hurricane in a single day this fall, a week after Polo's winds rose roughly 104 mph in 24 hours. Here is what makes a hurricane intensify that fast, why Otis reached Acapulco as a Category 5 that no forecast anticipated, and how forecasters are learning to see it coming.

Hurricane Rachel jumped from a Category 1 to a major hurricane in a single day this fall, a week after Polo's winds rose roughly 104 mph in 24 hours. Here is what makes a hurricane intensify that fast, why Otis reached Acapulco as a Category 5 that no forecast anticipated, and how forecasters are learning to see it coming.

Read the full articleby Adam Cannizzaro

Transcript

RAPID INTENSIFICATION: WHY PACIFIC HURRICANES EXPLODE OVERNIGHT

[WHAT IT IS] Some storms strengthen overnight.

Rapid intensification means a hurricane's top winds rise at least 35 mph in 24 hours.
A key trigger is powerful, spinning thunderstorms near the center that come and go within an hour, so it is hard to forecast.

[ACAPULCO, 2023] The forecast said Category 1.

In October 2023, less than a day before landfall, forecasters expected Hurricane Otis to hit Acapulco, Mexico, as a Category 1.
Instead, Otis's winds jumped about 104 mph in 21 hours, and it struck as a Category 5 that damaged nearly every home in the city.

Read the full article at noozify.com. Images: Images: Hurricane Polo from NASA's Aqua satellite, NASA Earth Observatory image by Michala Garrison; Hurricane Irma's eyewall by NOAA's Hurricane Hunters; Hurricane Otis at landfall, GOES imagery by CSU/CIRA and NOAA; all public domain. Music: an original score for Noozify.