As the remnants of Hurricane Helene caused major flooding in the Southeast today, the Atlantic was serving up two more storms.
Hurricane Isaac was spinning east-northeast at 16 mph about 890 miles west of the Azores Islands, according to an 11 p.m. ET public advisory from the National Hurricane Center.
Maximum sustained winds have been measured at 90 mph, far above the 74 mph required for Category 1 hurricane status, the center said.
While it continued to strengthen amid the Atlantic’s warm water, Isaac’s expected path to the northeast will put it over cooler water, and it was expected to weaken to a post-tropical cyclone by Monday, federal forecasters said.
It’s existence in a desolate part of the Atlantic means it’s unlikely to wreak havoc for people, though it could generate life-threatening surf for the Azores, they said.
The other storm is Tropical Storm Joyce, which was 1,205 miles east of the Northern Leeward Islands, according to the hurricane center’s 11 p.m. public advisory for the storm.
It was moving west-northwest at 12 mph and was maintaining its strength level of 50 mph maximum sustained winds, the center said. It, too, had few impacts for people so far, although forecasters warned that it could generate waves of 12 to 14 feet.
University of Colorado meteorologist Philip Klotzbach said on social media platform X that it’s been a little more than a year since the Atlantic has had three named storms at the same time, specifically Aug. 31, 2023, when Franklin, Idalia and Jose were active.
In the Eastern Pacific, John, which was once a hurricane, made landfall along Mexico’s Pacific coast, killing at least eight people and causing flooding in cities including Acapulco, the Associated Press reported.
It was downgraded to a remnant but was still expected to produce between 1 to 4 inches of rainfall in some areas, the National Hurricane Center said this afternoon.
