has killed at least 5,000 people in Libya, with 10,000 more missing, was no normal weather. This rare, destructive, subtropical monster was supersized by unusually warm Mediterranean waters. When it slammed into the Libyan coast, it did so with such force that it caused two dams inland to collapse, releasing a tsunamic wall of water down the Wadi Derna river that destroyed much of the eastern city of Derna. This kind of storm—known as a “Mediterranean tropical-like cyclone,” or medicane—is rare.
Medicanes are the smaller siblings of the hurricanes and typhoons that barrage coastal locations around the world. As Hurricane Lee has shown over the Atlantic Ocean, warm water and humidity can quickly turn major storm systems intoWhile medicanes are rare, their destructive power can be immense—especially when they hit countries ill-equipped to cope with such ferocious weather events. These storms rotate like regular hurricanes and have the same distinct “eye” feature.