Climate Changed
How Irma Became Irma: A Monster Storm Six Months in the Making
- Warm Atlantic water, moist atmosphere, a no-show El Nino
- Packing house-crushing winds as it threatens Florida
Irma Pounds Caribbean as She Races for Florida
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Irma has ripped a path of misery through the Caribbean and is aiming at Florida, but the first seed for its monster size and force was planted on the other side of the world more than six months ago.
It happened innocently enough, when a widely anticipated El Nino failed to materialize over the Pacific Ocean. In time, that cleared a path for a hurricane to form in the Atlantic that grew to the size of the state of New York with winds topping 185 miles per hour.