--- title: "National Weather Service Warns of “Zombie Storms”" description: "As their eerie name suggests, \"zombie storms\" occurs when strong tropical climates cause storms to come back from the dead." date: "2020-09-30" modified: "2020-09-30" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/national-weather-service-warns-zombie-storms" categories: - "Science & Energy" tags: - "hurricane" - "storm" - "the digest" - "weather patterns" --- # National Weather Service Warns of “Zombie Storms” ![As their eerie name suggests, "zombie storms" occurs when strong tropical climates cause storms to come back from the dead.]() *\Image: NOAA/Pixabay/Victor Tangermann\* ## Spooky Storm Just in time for Halloween season, the year 2020 has one more trick up its sleeve: "zombie storms." As their eerie name suggests, according to the National Weather Service, the rare weather phenomenon occurs when strong tropical climates cause storms to come back from the dead. https://twitter.com/NWS/status/1308414744148283394 ## Dead Rising That's essentially what happened to Hurricane Paulette. The storm landed in Bermuda weeks ago as a Category 1 storm, intensified to a Category 2, and then lost speed. Then last week, Paulette joined the living dead by strengthening into a tropical storm once more, [according to the National Hurricane Center](). She made yet another reappearance about 300 miles off the Azores islands. ## Hostile Conditions Meteorologist Brandon Miller [told *CNN*]() that "conditions can become hostile for a tropical storm to maintain its intensity, but if it doesn't dissipate completely, it can revive days later when conditions become more favorable." He added that "2020 is a good candidate to experience a zombie storm because water temperatures are above average over a bulk of the Atlantic Ocean, and obviously we are seeing a record number of storms — which ups the chances one could regenerate." In other words, rather than dying out as they usually do when they hit land or cooler waters, storms are regaining energy from much warmer waters in the Caribbean. Intensifying conditions caused by climate change might be making such freak occurrences more frequent, especially considering an "extreme amount of heating of the Gulf (of Mexico)," as Donald Wuebbles, professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Illinois, [told *Live Science*](). **READ MORE:** [Zombie storms are rising from the dead thanks to climate change]() \[*Live Science*\] **More on storms:** *[Hubble Catches Massive New Storm Brewing on Jupiter]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()