Hurricane Felix, bearing down on Central America as a maximum-intensity storm, became the second Category Five hurricane of the 2007 season before the season had even passed its halfway mark. Scientists described the occurrence as uncommon, noting that only 2005 had produced more than two such storms in a single year, with four that year alone.
Felix developed from a tropical depression to a Category Five system in roughly 36 hours, sustaining winds near 260 kilometers per hour. Researchers called that rate of intensification rare for Atlantic storms.
A Meteo-France official in Martinique said the season's storm count was close to the historical average of 12 to 13 per year, with six storms recorded by early September. He added, however, that intensity matters as much as raw numbers, and the two powerful storms already logged put 2007 in an active category.
Scientists pointed to three conditions that fuel hurricanes: warm ocean surface temperatures that drive convective energy, sufficient atmospheric moisture to generate cloud systems, and favorable wind shear to rotate the system into a cyclone. Further hurricane-strength storms were forecast for the remainder of the season.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in September 2007, in its own words.