By This Hour Science Desk
Three tropical cyclones were active across the Pacific at the same time on September 1, 2026, in a satellite view that also captured Tropical Storm Edouard over the southern United States, NASA has reported. The image offered a single, wide-angle illustration of a striking early-September imbalance: a busy Northeast Pacific season and an Atlantic basin that, by the same account, had produced relatively little cyclone activity.
NASA identified the Pacific storms as Lowell, Karina and Marie. It said Lowell subsequently reached Category 5 intensity for several hours on September 2 and Karina reached Category 4 strength at roughly the same time. Marie, southwest of Baja California when the image was acquired, was still classified as a tropical storm but was strengthening as it moved northwest. In the Atlantic, Edouard had recently made landfall and was visible over Louisiana and Texas.
The scene matters because it joins individual storms to the larger shape of the season. A count of named systems alone can describe how often storms formed, but it cannot distinguish a brief weak system from one that persists at high intensity. The contrast reported for the two basins involved both measures of storm occurrence and accumulated cyclone energy, a seasonal index intended to reflect intensity and duration together.
A September 1 image framed four separate storms
The observation came from NASA’s Deep Space Climate Observatory, or DSCOVR, using its Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera, known as EPIC. NASA said the instrument captured the image at 1:14 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time on September 1. The resulting view placed three named Pacific cyclones and one Atlantic storm within the same Earth-observing frame, though the storms were separated by vast distances and were not a single connected weather system.
That distinction is important. The simultaneous appearance of Lowell, Karina, Marie and Edouard does not by itself establish a common immediate cause or mean that the storms were interacting. A satellite image can document their positions and cloud structures at one moment; it cannot settle every question about why each storm formed, intensified, weakened or took a particular track. NASA’s broader account instead placed the four systems within a basin-to-basin seasonal contrast.
Lowell and Karina were the most powerful members of the Pacific group in the subsequent account. NASA said Lowell attained Category 5 strength for several hours on September 2, while Karina reached Category 4 strength around the same period. Two high-category hurricanes occurring in the same regional span is a notable concentration of intense activity, but the reported information does not provide wind values, track histories, duration beyond Lowell’s several hours at Category 5, or later changes in either storm.
Marie represented a different point in the tropical-cyclone life cycle. When EPIC observed it, NASA said, the storm was southwest of Baja California and moving northwest while strengthening. It remained a tropical storm at that time. Its presence alongside two stronger systems broadens the meaning of the satellite scene: the Pacific activity was not limited to two mature hurricanes but included another developing cyclone in the same overall period.
On the Atlantic side of the image, Edouard was no longer over open water. NASA described it as a short-lived tropical storm that had recently made landfall, placing it over Louisiana and Texas in the satellite view. The agency reported that the storm brought heavy rain and strong winds, with impacts including downed trees and power lines. It also cited National Weather Service meteorologists for reports that some locations received 15 to 24 inches of rain.
Seasonal measures pointed in opposite directions
As of September 3, NASA reported that the Northeast Pacific had recorded 15 named storms and six hurricanes. The Atlantic, it said, had recorded five named storms and no hurricanes. Those counts describe an appreciable difference in the pace of cyclone formation by early September, near the usual seasonal high point referenced in NASA’s account.
The reported gap was wider when assessed through accumulated cyclone energy, or ACE. NASA said the Atlantic’s ACE stood at 4.4 as of September 3, about 9 percent of normal for that date. The Northeast Pacific’s ACE was reported at 130, about 50 percent above normal. The index combines storm intensity and longevity, so it gives greater weight to cyclones that remain strong for longer periods than a simple named-storm total does.
That makes the two sets of figures complementary rather than interchangeable. Fifteen named storms and six hurricanes indicate that the Northeast Pacific had been active in terms of the number of systems and the number reaching hurricane status. An ACE reading above the reported normal level suggests that the season’s activity was also substantial when duration and intensity are considered. In the Atlantic, five named storms and no hurricanes paired with a low ACE reading portray fewer systems and, collectively, limited sustained cyclone energy to that date.
Neither measure, however, is a direct measure of damage, rainfall at a particular location, or danger to a community. A lower-energy tropical storm can still produce destructive freshwater flooding, as the reported impacts from Edouard illustrate. Conversely, a powerful hurricane remaining far from land can have a much different human consequence than a less intense storm that crosses a populated coast. Seasonal statistics should therefore not be read as a ranking of lived impacts.
El Niño was presented as a seasonal influence, not a full explanation
NASA linked the contrasting basin patterns to the El Niño conditions described in its seasonal background. In that account, El Niño tends to favor hurricane activity in the eastern and central Pacific because waters in those areas are unusually warm. It can also suppress Atlantic hurricane activity by altering large-scale circulation in ways that make it more difficult for storms to persist.
The agency specifically described unfavorable wind shear as weighing on the Atlantic. Wind shear refers to changes in wind speed or direction with height. Tropical cyclones generally depend on an organized vertical structure, so conditions that disrupt that structure can make development or maintenance harder. The source material does not quantify the shear, identify its precise distribution, or show how it affected every Atlantic disturbance. It supports a basin-scale explanation, not a definitive diagnosis for every system that did or did not form.
Likewise, the reported relationship with unusually warm Pacific waters should be understood as a tendency rather than a guarantee. Seasonal climate patterns can shift the odds across a basin, but individual tropical cyclones still depend on local atmospheric and oceanic conditions. The available report does not claim that El Niño alone caused Lowell, Karina or Marie, nor does it establish that the Pacific’s activity can be reduced to a single factor.
The value of the comparison lies in its timing. Seasonal outlooks issued in spring had anticipated below-normal Atlantic activity and above-normal activity in the northeastern and central Pacific, NASA said. By early September, its account characterized the observed contrast as consistent with those expectations. That is narrower than declaring an outlook proven for the entire season: September 3 is a snapshot, and storm totals and energy measures can still change as later systems develop.
Edouard shows why basin quiet does not mean local safety
The Atlantic’s quiet season-to-date picture did not spare the Gulf Coast from a damaging rainfall event. NASA reported that Edouard crossed land as a short-lived storm and brought torrential rain and strong winds to parts of Louisiana and Texas. The cited rainfall range of 15 to 24 inches in some places is the most direct measure of impact included in the available material, alongside the reports of trees and power lines being brought down.
That contrast deserves care in interpretation. The Atlantic statistics concern conditions across an entire basin over a period of months. Rainfall, wind damage and disruptions from Edouard concern specific places during one storm. The former can be low while the latter remains severe. A season that is below its typical level of overall activity can still contain a storm capable of causing serious local hazards after landfall.
The satellite image also has a practical scientific role beyond its visual scale. Earth-observing instruments can help track cyclones before landfall and contribute information used after storms, including for emergency preparation and damage assessment. But the supplied account does not specify what operational decisions were made from this particular EPIC image, what additional observations were used, or how conditions evolved after the dates discussed.
The picture is compelling, but the record is still limited
The available account supports a clear description of conditions through September 3: three Pacific cyclones were captured simultaneously on September 1; Lowell and Karina later reached very high hurricane categories; Marie was strengthening; and the Northeast Pacific’s reported seasonal totals and ACE exceeded the corresponding reference levels while the Atlantic’s lagged. It also supports the more qualified conclusion that El Niño-related basin conditions were presented as an important part of the backdrop.
Important questions remain outside the supplied material. There is no full accounting here of each storm’s eventual path, final intensity, land impacts, casualties, economic losses or post-storm rainfall analyses. The report does not establish whether the Northeast Pacific’s elevated activity continued for the rest of the season, whether the Atlantic later recovered, or how revised records might alter the figures. It does not provide an independent examination of the seasonal forecasts or the ACE calculations.
All of the central claims in this report derive from a single NASA Earth Observatory account and its cited descriptions of other meteorological information. They have not been independently corroborated for this article. The image and statistics remain a useful reported snapshot of an unusual early-September distribution of tropical-cyclone activity, but they should be read with that source limitation in mind.
For further context on this subject, see Hubble Detects a 10-Sided Wave Around Saturn’s South Pole.
Reporting notes
What is confirmed: Lowell reportedly reached Category 5 strength, Karina Category 4, and Marie was strengthening when imaged.
Why this matters: The reported scene coincided with markedly higher Northeast Pacific cyclone activity and lower Atlantic activity through September 3.
What remains unclear: Later storm tracks, impacts, final seasonal totals and independent verification are not provided. This report is based on one source and has not been independently corroborated.
