Stay Curious

SIGN UP FOR OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTER AND UNLOCK ONE MORE ARTICLE FOR FREE.

Sign Up

VIEW OUR Privacy Policy


Discover Magazine Logo

WANT MORE? KEEP READING FOR AS LOW AS $1.99!

Subscribe

ALREADY A SUBSCRIBER?

FIND MY SUBSCRIPTION
Advertisement

A Scary Intensification Record for Hurricane Felix

Hurricane Felix achieved Category 5 strength in just 51 hours, marking a record intensification rate for Atlantic storms.

Newsletter

Sign up for our email newsletter for the latest science news

Sign Up

Here's a detail that I missed:

Felix now holds the record for shortest time for an Atlantic storm to intensify to Category 5 strength. Felix required just 51 hours to reach Category 5 strength after it started as a tropical depression. That is a truly remarkable intensification rate, considering most tropical cyclones take 3-5 days to organize into a Category 1 hurricane.

As I said in my last post--you can look at these anomalies and just shrug, but Thomas Kuhn knew well that if you get enough anomalies, you sometimes get a paradigm shift.

Stay Curious

JoinOur List

Sign up for our weekly science updates

View our Privacy Policy

SubscribeTo The Magazine

Save up to 40% off the cover price when you subscribe to Discover magazine.

Subscribe
Advertisement

0 Free Articles