Hurricane Dora has made headlines this week for having partially contributed to the winds that whipped up a ferocious firestorm in Hawaii. Now Dora, already having set a record for longevity in the Pacific Ocean, has made more history, more than three weeks after being born in a different ocean more than 10,000 miles away.
Hurricane Dora became Typhoon Dora as it crossed the international date line into the western Pacific Ocean late Friday, becoming only the second tropical system on record to remain at hurricane strength across the eastern, central and western Pacific basins. Hurricane John, the longest-lasting tropical cyclone on record, previously accomplished the same feat in 1994.
The international date line is an imaginary line at 180 degrees longitude that separates two calendar days and marks the boundary between the central and western Pacific Ocean. A tropical cyclone with maximum sustained winds of at least 74 mph is called a hurricane in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean and in the Atlantic, but a typhoon in the western Pacific.
Dora’s journey began all the way back on July 17 when it first emerged as a cluster of clouds and showers, or a tropical wave, in the eastern Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa. From there, the tropical wave took a southern track across the Atlantic and did not further develop because of dry and stable air. After crossing Central America on July 28 and 29, the system grew stronger and more organized as it entered the eastern Pacific Ocean, becoming a tropical depression on July 31 and being named Tropical Storm Dora on Aug. 1, once its winds reached 39 mph.
Having traveled nearly 10,000 miles in total, including 5,000 miles across the Pacific Ocean, Dora was the longest-lasting Category 4 hurricane on record in the Pacific before weakening in recent days. Many meteorologists believe the low pressure associated with Dora contributed to the winds that rapidly spread devastating wildfires in Hawaii this week, although there is some debate about how much influence the storm had as it passed about 500 miles south of the Hawaiian islands.
It’s not unprecedented for tropical systems to cross over from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. Last year, both Bonnie and Julia made the leap from one ocean to another, marking the first time two storms in one season maintained tropical storm intensity as they crossed over.