The El Niño event over the Pacific could become one of the strongest superstorms in over 60-years, NASA scientists have claimed.
The storms are likely to peak between October and January, as the west coast of America prepares for potentially devastating weather.
Sky News reports:
Similar El Niño events took place in 1972, 1982 and 1997, and each lasted for about a year on average.
The WMO’s prediction came days after NASA’s Earth Observatory released images of three Category 4 storms travelling across the Pacific Ocean simultaneously.
Hurricanes in the Pacific are generally solitary storms – and although they do occasionally show up in pairs, three in the same area is unprecedented.
NASA’s pictures, from west to east, show hurricanes Kilo, Ignacio and Jimena.
Hurricane Ignacio was the closest to Hawaii with sustained wind speeds of 140mph an hour.
But it has rapidly weakened and is travelling further away from the Big Island.
However, Hurricane Jimena remains a powerful Category 4 storm with maximum sustained winds of about 130mph.
According to the Central Pacific Hurricane Centre in Honolulu, high surf could reach south and east-facing shores in the coming days, and its forecasters are warning the swells could be life-threatening.