Pacific hurricanes form rare trio fueled by El Nino

A rare trio of hurricanes was moving through the Pacific Ocean on Thursday, with scientists attributing the storms to waters warmed by a historically strong El Nino.

Tropical Storm Marie strengthened into a hurricane late Wednesday off Baja California, joining Hurricanes Karina and Lowell. Karina and Lowell were both rated as major Category 4 storms.

The National Hurricane Center said Lowell was about 450 miles, or 725 kilometres, south of Hilo, Hawaii, and was expected to remain a major hurricane for the next several days as it moved west.

The centre said swells from Lowell were likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions in parts of the Hawaiian Islands during the next several days. It also said long-range forecasts for Lowell's track and strength were more uncertain than usual.

The hurricane center said late Wednesday that Karina had weakened slightly as it moved northwest but was likely to remain a hurricane for the next couple of days.

Marie was about 380 miles southwest of the southern tip of Baja California. The storm was generating swells affecting parts of southwest Mexico and the Baja California Peninsula, with swells likely to spread northward to southern California over the weekend.

Julia Cole, a climate scientist at the University of Michigan, told AFP that seeing three tropical cyclones at once was rare. She said El Nino warming helps create conditions for strong storms because hurricanes are fueled largely by warm waters.

Benjamin Kirtman, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Miami, said warm waters and low vertical wind shear over the Pacific were creating favourable conditions for hurricanes to intensify. He said sea surface temperature anomalies were already near record highs.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said this year's El Nino has a 69 percent chance of becoming the strongest on record and is not expected to peak until October to December.

The current El Nino is already being linked to extreme weather elsewhere. Industry officials say warming seas have hit anchovy production in Peru, while in Sudan El Nino is blamed for delaying crucial rains and lowering Nile water levels.

El Nino is the warming phase of the El Nino-Southern Oscillation, a natural cycle in the tropical Pacific that occurs every two to seven years and can affect weather worldwide. Climate change increases El Nino's impacts by allowing a warmer atmosphere to hold more moisture and by drying soils where El Nino brings drought.