The Western Hemisphere’s first major hurricane of 2018 is the Eastern Pacific’s Hurricane Aletta. Aletta put on a remarkable display of rapid intensification overnight Thursday, with the winds increasing by 70 mph in just 24 hours. Aletta was merely a tropical storm with 70 mph winds at 11 am EDT Thursday, but by Friday at 11 am, the hurricane had morphed into a fierce Category 4 storm with 140 mph winds. This rapid intensification episode was not well-forecast; the official NHC intensity forecast made at 11 am EDT Thursday called for Aletta to peak with 100 mph winds. The only other major tropical cyclones in the Northern Hemisphere thus far in 2018 have been the Western Pacific’s Typhoon Jelawat, which topped out as a Category 4 storm with 150 mph winds on March 30, and Tropical Cyclone Mekunu, which topped out as a Category 3 storm with 115 mph winds when it made landfall in Oman on May 25.

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