La Nina — which often means a busier Atlantic hurricane season, a drier Southwest and perhaps a more fire-prone California — has popped up in the Pacific Ocean. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Thursday that a La Nina, the cooler flip side of the better known El Nino, has formed....
‘Full Beast Mode’ Hurricane Could Bring ‘Unsurvivable’ Storm Surge
DELCAMBRE, La. — Laura strengthened Wednesday into a menacing Category 4 hurricane, raising fears of a 20-foot storm surge that forecasters said would be "unsurvivable” and capable of sinking entire communities. Authorities implored coastal residents of Texas and Louisiana to evacuate and worried that not enough had fled. The storm...
Puerto Rico Braces for Flooding, Landslides From Karen
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Tropical Storm Karen began drenching the U.S. Virgin Islands on Tuesday while bearing down on an earthquake-shaken Puerto Rico still scarred by a hurricane two years ago. U.S. Virgin Islands Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. said the storm had already caused mudslides in the territory and...
'Catastrophic' Hurricane Dorian Parks Over the Bahamas
FREEPORT, Bahamas — Practically parking over the Bahamas for a day and a half, Hurricane Dorian pounded away at the islands Tuesday in a watery onslaught that devastated thousands of homes, trapped people in attics and crippled hospitals. At least five deaths were reported, with the full extent of the...
‘Extremely Dangerous’ Hurricane Willa Aims for Mexico’s West
MEXICO CITY — Hurricane Willa has grown rapidly into an "extremely dangerous" near-Category 5 storm in the eastern Pacific, on a path to smash into Mexico's western coast between Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta by Wednesday. The governments of Sinaloa and Nayarit states ordered coastal region schools to close on Monday...
‘Unimaginable Destruction’ as Hurricane Smashes Rows of Houses
PANAMA CITY, Fla. — Search-and-rescue teams fanned out across the Florida Panhandle to reach trapped people in the wake of Hurricane Michael Thursday as daylight yielded scenes of rows upon rows of houses smashed to pieces by the third-most powerful hurricane on record to hit the continental U.S. At least...
Carolinas Brace for Extremely Dangerous Hurricane Florence
RALEIGH, N.C. — Florence rapidly strengthened into a major hurricane on Monday and all signs suggested it will reach Category 4 strength as it closes in on North and South Carolina, where forecasters said unusually warm ocean currents off the coast could super-charge it into "a large and extremely dangerous...