Bolaven To Trigger Pattern Change, Additional Storminess Downstream In US Next Week

Weather experts said that Bolaven, as a tropical wind and rainstorm, is seen to trigger pattern change as well as additional storminess downstream in the United States this coming week.

The former super typhoon will still bring impacts of rain, powerful winds, rough seas, and even interior snow.

Meteorologists said that Bolaven would join forces with several other storms moving and swirling in the Gulf of Alaska, which is considered as a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean to the south of the state.

They said that the sheer size of Bolaven could even force a change in the weather all across North America later next week and this phenomenon will result in extreme temperatures and an uptick in storminess on either end of the adjacent US.

Strongest storm of 2023

Weather experts said that the powerful Bolaven had developed in the western Pacific Ocean. They recalled that it began forming on Saturday and gradually strengthened as it tracked towards the northeast direction.

It passed between Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands on Tuesday as a Category 1 equivalent storm.

Furthermore, Bolaven subsequently underwent a process known as rapid intensification, with sustained wind speeds increasing from 90mph to 160mph (145km/h to 255km/h), which is the equivalent of a category 5 hurricane, in just 12 hours.

Meteorologists said that rapid intensification is an increase in the maximum sustained winds of a tropical cyclone of at least 30 kt in a 24-h period.

They explained that the phenomenon of rapid intensification is usually brought in part by very warm sea surface temperatures, with those in the western Pacific now trending around 1C-3C above average.

Weather experts pointed out that as our climate continues to warm, the public is likely to see more frequent examples of rapid intensification of tropical storms in the future.

Bolaven continued to strengthen into Wednesday, reaching a peak intensity of sustained winds of 180mph, making it the second strongest storm of 2023 and near to the 185mph achieved by Super Typhoon Mawar in May.

Based on what is stated on forecast on local time of Saturday night, Bolaven was swirling more than 500 hundred miles to the north and east of Japan in the northwestern Pacific Ocean and it was transitioning to a tropical wind and rainstorm.

No direct landfall

In the previous days, some satellites had estimated the peak strength of the typhoon to be at Category 5 levels, with sustained winds of up to 180 mph (290 km/h) and gusts of 220 mph (355 km/h).

This phenomenon had made Bolaven the second-strongest storm on Earth this year.

Even though it did not make any direct landfalls, Bolaven was still able to bring heavy rains and gusty winds to Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands earlier this week.

A peak wind gust of 68 mph (109 km/h) was measured on Saipan Island, while nearly 4 inches of rain (101 mm) fell on Agana, Guam, from Monday evening through Tuesday night.

Experts said that all of the precipitation from what's left of Bolaven is expected to ride the jet stream into western Canada and steer well clear of the northwest US.

Moreover, the massive footprint of the storm will have downstream effects on weather patterns across 48 states.

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