Three Hurricanes March Across the Pacific Ocean

Warming in the Eastern Pacific Ocean caused by El Niño has created conditions for more storms to develop in this region in 2026. Shown from left to right, hurricanes Lowell, Karina, and Marie appear in dark shades of purple in this brightness temperature image from September 2, 2026, that was acquired by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument aboard the NOAA-21 platform. Hurricanes Lowell and Karina are predicted to reach category 3 or 4 strength, while Marie may approach category 3 strength.

Visit the U.S. National Hurricane Center and the Joint Typhoon Warning Center for storm tracking and predictions.

The last time there were three hurricanes simultaneously in the Eastern or Central Pacific was in 2015, with Hurricanes Kilo, Ignacio, and Jimena spinning in the Pacific during another El Niño year. The hurricanes appear in this image acquired on September 2, 2015, by the VIIRS instrument aboard the NASA/NOAA Suomi National Polar orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) platform.

A storymap recently published on Earthdata examines the relationship between El Niño and precipitation. Earlier this summer, NASA Earth Observatory described the development of El Niño conditions.

Visit Worldview to visualize near real-time imagery and historical imagery from NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS); find more imagery in the Worldview weekly image archive.