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The governors of Florida and South Carolina have warned all residents in areas that may be affected by Hurricane Matthew  to evacuate or make appropriate preparations. The storm has crossed Haiti, but with communications down over most of the island, damage and casualties are unknown.

Life-threatening surf and rip-currents are now a danger over a wide area from Puerto Rico to Venezuela and north into the Bahamas. In their 8 a.m. Tuesday advisory, National Hurricane Center forecasters said the storm’s sustained winds are 145 mph. Matthew is now tracking slightly westward of its original course and should begin to affect Florida on Thursday, while passing directly over the Bahamas.
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Hurricane Patricia, which struck southern Mexico over the weekend made landfall so quickly that it declined within hours into a tropical storm, then broke up into disorganized cells. Patricia was the most powerful hurricane ever recorded. However, the speed with which it came ashore in a relatively arid area meant that its vertical circulation was impeded, and what could have been a great disaster became an event involving flooding and minor wind damage.

Farther north in Texas, an extension of the storm complex dumped as much as 20 inches of rain east of Dallas, but for the most part the state experienced a rainfall 4 to 6 inches, which is resulting in a significant increase in water levels in reservoirs and aquifers.
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Hurricane Joaquin’s winds missed the US Eastern Seaboard, but the storm caused massive flooding in South Carolina, resulting in at least 19 deaths, burst dams, flooded streets, highways and homes, and serious and growing water shortages due to damage to water systems and reservoirs. Because the storm moved rapidly out to sea, already waterlogged parts of the region farther north were spared. The flooding in South Carolina is said to be the worst ever recorded, and is being called a thousand year flood, of which we now have many.

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As already predicted in Unknown Country’s Climate Watch, it appears that westerly winds sweeping across the Pacific ocean could produce the first El Niño weather system since 2009-2010. Forecasters warn that it could be one of the most dramatic on record.

The predicted El Niño is attracting attention from experts around the globe, who are monitoring its progress with increasing interest:
“Basically it is primed for a strong El Niño, but it needs the final push,” commented Axel Timmermann, Professor of Oceanography at the International Pacific Research Centre, University of Hawaii. “This is perhaps the most-watched El Niño of all time.”
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