Last Tuesday, Hurricane Felix roared into eastern Nicaragua as a fearsome Category 5 storm. It had top sustained winds of 160 mph. Felix marked the first time in recorded history that two top-scale storms made landfall in the same season. It was just a couple of weeks ago that we saw Dean slam into the Yucatan Peninsula.
Another record set by Felix was for twin Atlantic and Pacific hurricanes making landfall on the same day. A few hours after Felix came ashore, Hurricane Henrietta hit the Baja of Mexico. The closest comparison happened at 5 a.m. on August 24, 1992, when Hurricane Andrew devastated southern Florida 23 hours after Hurricane Lester hit Baja California, Mexico.
For the past couple of years, I have been keeping track of an amazing number of records set by tropical systems. These aren't just regional or decade-spanning landmarks. Most of the them are ones with "first time" or "strongest ever" attached to their name.
The year when everything changed seems to be 2004. Before that year, climatologists only noticed a sharp increase in tropical activity. But the past three seasons and the one we are in now have simply been off the scale.
I've gone through several of my previous NM Updates and compiled the following list of storm-related headlines. I just look at the data and ask myself, "Where is this trend taking us?"
- 2004 - Japan was hit by a record number of typhoons.
- 2004 - Florida was hit by a record number of hurricanes.
- 2004 - Cyclone Catarina is the only South Atlantic cyclone to ever reach hurricane strength.
- 2005 - Katrina was the most costly hurricane in history.
- 2005 - Rita was the most powerful Atlantic storm as measured by barometric pressure.
- 2005 - Atlantic hurricane watchers recorded 27 storms, the most ever in one season.
- 2006 - In March, Larry was the most powerful tropical system to hit Australia in 31 years.
- 2006 - In April, Monica became the most intense cyclone ever to impact Australia.
- 2006 - Typhoon Saomai was the most powerful storm to hit Communist China.
- 2006 - Ioke was the first recorded Category 5 hurricane to develop in the central Pacific.
- 2007 - Cyclone Gonu was the strongest tropical cyclone on record in the Arabian Sea.
- 2007 - The first time two Category 5 Atlantic storms made landfall in one season.
- 2007 - The first time an Atlantic and Pacific hurricane hit on the same day.
I believe we have moved past the point at which nature cycles or global warming can account for the massive surge in destructive storms. Meteorologists who argue for nature cycles point to the high levels of activity in the 1930s and 1940s and the slow period in the 1970s and 1980s. The increased frequency we are seeing, they claim, is the completion of the cycle. The cycle theory can't explain why we are seeing deadly storms all over the world.
Global warming has been more widely blamed for creating storms like Katrina. At most, the average sea temperature has risen by half of a degree Fahrenheit. If this small change is the cause, then we are all in big trouble. The two-degree rise that global warming alarmists envision occurring in our lifetime would create a monstrous storm wiping out everything in its path.
I think Bible prophecy is the only way to account for the dramatic increase in hurricanes, cyclones, and typhoons all over the world. The Lord Jesus said there would be calamitous warning signs of the end times, and His predictions are now ringing true.
The pattern of birth pangs is not just found in weather. Earthquakes have also been very active. In December of 2004, a huge quake in the Indian Ocean triggered the most deadly tsunami in recorded history. The following year, a 7.7 tremor in Kashmir, Pakistan killed 55,000 people. Just a few weeks ago, a large quake rocked Peru.
There are plenty of moral indicators of the last days, but society seems to have lost sight of them. A few years ago, gay marriage was a hot-button issue. Today, the issue struggles to make it into the news. The recent lack of attention given to an Iowa judge's favorable ruling on gay marriage shows how callous people have become.
Tropical storms are a good warning because it's hard to become desensitized to the results they produce. Anyone still living in a trailer in New Orleans or Mississippi can testify to that fact. Until the end finally comes, I expect God to continue visiting mankind with these reminders.
"And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth" (Luke 21:25-26).