Six Tropical Storms Set Record After Whirling At Once: “They’re Forming Like Roaches”

It’s hurricane season, and six storms have erupted all at once in the Atlantic and Pacific, a record, according to forecasters.

“While Humberto and Kiko were spinning in the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific, four new tropical cyclones formed Tuesday: Imelda and Jerry in the Atlantic Basin, and Mario and Lorena in the Eastern Pacific Basin,” the Weather Channel reported.

According to the National Hurricane Center forecaster Eric Blake, the combined number of active storms in both basins is believed to tie a modern record, which was set in September 1992. He tweeted Tuesday that “they are forming like roaches out there.” “It’s not something that you see all the time, but not unheard of, either,” said Weather Channel meteorologist Danielle Banks.

There have been at least five active tropical cyclone storms at once, according to the National Hurricane Center. The storms emerged during Sept. 10 through the 12th in 1971. In the eastern Pacific, on Aug. 26, 1974, there were five simultaneous named storms of at least tropical storm strength, Phil Klotzbach, a tropical scientist at Colorado State University, told weather.com.

USA Today reports that the month of September is the prime time for hurricane and tropical storm activity in both the Atlantic and Pacific area, NOAA reports. 

“In September, ocean temperatures are nearly at their yearly peak, and shearing winds that can rip apart tropical storms and hurricanes are typically at their lowest,” the Weather Channel reported. The storms names are Imelda, Humberto, Jerry, Kiko, Mario, and Lorena.