| Armageddon storm (SSHWS/NWS) | |
|---|---|
 Collin at its record-breaking peak intensity | |
| Formed | December 11, 2027 |
| Dissipated | April 11, 2028 (Exited Earth) |
| Duration | 4 months |
| Highest winds | 10-minute sustained: 1850 km/h (1150 mph) 1-minute sustained: 1900 km/h (1180 mph) Gusts: 2035 km/h (1265 mph) |
| Lowest pressure | 0 hPa (mbar); 0 inHg |
| Fatalities | >6 billion total |
| Damage | >$80 trillion (2027 USD) |
| Areas affected | Worldwide |
| Part of the 2027 Atlantic hurricane season (Litia Von Lucerna - REMAKE) | |
Armageddon Storm Collin was by far the most powerful, damaging, and deadily tropical cyclone ever recorded as well as one of the major causes of both the 2027 Mass Extinction Event and the formation of the Holy Empire of Earth-Kalgamania. The 100th depression, 96th named storm, 70th hurricane, and 64th major hurricane of the 2027 Atlantic hurricane season, Collin was responsible for apocalyptic damage throughout its several month-long path, in some cases permanently sinking thousands of square miles of land as a result of its storm surge and generating supersonic winds strong enough to cause powerful earthquakes where it made landfall. Following the storm's eventual exit into space, severe storm-related ozone layer damage led to the deaths of over three fourths of the human race as well as the extinction of 80% of all Earth species.
Meteorological history[]
Map plotting the track and intensity of the storm, according to the Saffir-Simspon scale
Late on December 10, the NHC began monitoring a tropical wave that had just emerged from the coast of Africa and was now located over the Cabo Verde Islands. Favorable environmental conditions allowed the wave to steadily develop convection over its already well-defined circulation over the next few hours. At 23:00 UTC on December 11, the NHC officially designated the wave as Tropical Depression One-Hundred, making 2027 the first year to have its depression count reach the triple digits.
Tracking west, the depression slowly strengthened amid somewhat cold waters and very low wind shear. At 14:00 UTC on December 13, TD 100 strengthened into Tropical Storm Collin as convection northeast of its circulation began to consolidate into discrete spiral rain bands. By the time Collin strengthened into a hurricane at 16:00 UTC the next day, most parts of the system were displaying prominent banding features on radar and satellite. The storm continued to gradually strengthen and organize; at 12:00 UTC on December 15, Collin reached Category 2 status as an eye began to develop in the middle of its central dense overcast, which itself was progressively becoming more symmetrical in form. After receiving an upgrade to Category 3 major hurricane status at 02:00 UTC on December 16, a slight increase in wind shear caused the storm's intensity to level off.
Collin remained a Category 3 storm for over 48 hours before strengthening into a Category 4 at 10:00 UTC on December 18. At that point, very warm sea surface temperatures, low wind shear, and sufficiently moist air aloft created an environment favorable for rapid deepening as the hurricane approached the Leeward Islands. By the end of the 18th, Collin's winds measured 175 mph (280 km/h), making it a Category 5 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale. At 19:00 UTC on December 19, recon planes recorded sustained winds in excess of 200 mph, leading to an upgrade to Category 6 extreme hurricane status. Collin, now exhibiting a cleared eye, a pronounced stadium effect, a symmetrical CDO, robust outflow channels, and a well-defined rain bands, strengthened into a Category 7 hurricane at 09:00 UTC on December 20. A few hours later, the powerful hurricane began passing over the Lesser Antilles as a Category 8 on the SSHWS. Collin went on to reach an initial peak intensity of 260 mph (420 km/h) and 823 mbar at 12:00 UTC the next day before making its first landfall on Fajardo, Puerto Rico. This was followed by a second landfall on the city of Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic as a low-end Category 8 at 13:00 UTC on December 22. Afterwards, Collin quickly lost convection due to the mountainous terrain of Hispaniola, weakening below extreme hurricane status at 07:00 UTC on December 23. By the time the storm re-entered open waters on December 24, it had weakened into a Category 4 hurricane on the SSHWS, with its eye ragged and its convection shallow and disorganized.
Entering the Caribbean Sea, very warm sea surface temperatures of 115°F (46°C) allowed Collin to rapidly re-intensify. Less than 12 hours after weakening into a Category 4, the hurricane regained Category 5 status just as it began hitting Jamaica at 17:00 UTC on December 24. Its landfall on the island did not halt its strengthening, however, and Collin soon attained Category 6 status at 06:00 UTC on December 25 as its structure re-organized. Now approaching the Yucatan Peninsula, the storm continued its rapid intensification. Over a period of 24 hours, Collin's sustained winds increased from 225 mph (360 km/h) at the beginning of December 26 to 275 mph (440 km/h) at the end of December 26, making it a Category 9 hurricane. Early the next day, the hurricane reached Category 10 status. Collin's winds reached a maximum of 290 mph (465 km/h) and its pressure deepened to 799 mbar before making landfall on Bacalar Chico, Belize at 12:30 UTC on December 27. Over the Yucatan Peninsula, the storm turned northwest and weakened into a Category 7 before emerging into the Gulf of Mexico midday on December 28. There, even warmer ocean waters and very low wind shear led to a third round of rapid intensification in Collin, culminating in its upgrade to hypercane status at 20:00 UTC on December 29 as the storm stalled due to weak steering factors and began moving west again. A brief eyewall replacement that took place on December 30 temporarily halted Collin's intensification, but explosive deepening soon resumed; eventually, Collin's winds surpassed 400 mph, causing it to be upgraded to a megacane by the NHC at 15:00 UTC on December 31. The storm made landfall on Mexico's Laguna Madre region less than two hours later carrying winds of 405 mph (650 km/h), where a strong brown ocean effect caused by the region's relatively flat, dry terrain allowed the storm to maintain hypercane status for an impressive 36 hours.
Stalling before turning east, Collin emerged back into the Gulf of Mexico at 15:00 UTC on January 2. Though it had weakened into a Category 9 hurricane and beheld a ragged appearance on radar, its retainment of its tropical characteristics through January 1 made it the first Atlantic tropical cyclone to cross years since 2005's Tropical Storm Zeta, the second hurricane to do so after Hurricane Alice of 1954, and the first major hurricane to do so. Continual favorable conditions in the Gulf of Mexico allowed the storm to quickly re-intensify. At 11:00 UTC on January 3, Collin regained hypercane status along with most of the organization of the storm's structure achieved prior to landfall in Mexico as it slowly moved towards the remains of Florida. After the NHC upgraded Collin into a megacane again at 02:00 UTC on January 6, the storm reached winds of 425 mph (685 km/h) at around noon that day as it passed over the submerged remnants of the Florida Peninsula.
Slowly turning north towards the Northeastern United States, Collin's cloud pattern began to degrade later on the 6th as upwelling of cooler waters caused a gradual weakening trend. The storm weakened below megacane status at 18:00 UTC that day and below hypercane status at 13:00 UTC on January 8 whilst convection began to wane. Collin continued to weaken before eventually making landfall on Toms River, New Jersey as a ragged, disorganized Category 7 hurricane at 17:00 UTC on January 11. Weak steering factors caused the hurricane to loop over the American Northeast for roughly 120 hours, where another strong brown ocean effect occurred due to severe flooding. Though this allowed Collin to retain tropical characteristics for a record amount of time over land, substantial weakening still occurred. At 08:00 UTC the next day, the storm's winds dropped below C6 strength, causing it to be downgraded into a Category 5. At 02:00 UTC on January 13, it weakened further below major hurricane status as its eye disappeared from radar and its convection became stretched out to the northeast due to wind shear. After being downgraded into a tropical storm at 01:00 UTC on January 14 and into a depression at 21:00 UTC that day, Collin emerged back into open waters and exited its loop at 04:00 UTC on January 15 as a sheared, ill-defined tropical depression with almost no central convection. Though minor strengthening occurred thereafter, the formation of a strong convective band to the southwest of Collin's circulation and a decrease in its core's temperature indicated the beginning of an extratropical transition. By 17:00 UTC on the 15th, the NHC downgraded the storm into a non-tropical low, ending advisories for the system.
Regeneration[]
As an extratropical cyclone, Collin went on to undergo explosive cyclogenesis after passing over Newfoundland with hurricane-equivalent sustained winds. At around 11:00 UTC on January 19, a nearby ship measured winds of 140 mph (225 km/h) and a minimum pressure of 908 mbar, surpassing the Braer Storm's record of 913 mbar and making Collin the second-most powerful extratropical cyclone ever recorded over the North Atlantic after Theta's remnants. Though it soon weakened, the system continued to display strong winds and an unusually low pressure throughout its eastward journey across the open Atlantic. At 03:00 UTC on January 21, the storm reached Category 4-equivalent winds a second time and also began undergoing a transition back into a tropical cyclone due to unusually warm waters near the Azores and the Iberian Peninsula. The NHC resumed advisories on Collin following its regeneration at 10:00 UTC that day; due to already containing hurricane-force winds, the storm was immediately assumed to be fully tropical and upgraded straight to Category 4 hurricane status. Afterwards, very warm sea surface temperatures of 110°F (43°C) caused the hurricane to undergo explosive intensification as it rapidly redeveloped robust outflow channels, a clear eye, and well-defined spiral rainbands.
By 16:00 UTC on January 22, Hurricane Collin had reached sustained winds of 200 mph (320 km/h), making it a Category 6 extreme hurricane on the SSHWS. Eventually, it reached a peak of 240 mph (385 km/h) at 18:00 UTC on January 23, making the storm a Category 7 on the SSHWS. Collin made landfall on Lisbon, Portugal at that intensity five hours later, making it the strongest storm since Theta of 2027 to hit the region. Over the Iberian Peninsula, however, high wind shear and dry air quickly degraded the system's structure, causing Collin to explosively weaken. Nonetheless, it managed to cross into the Mediterranean Sea at 17:30 UTC on January 25 while still tropical, albeit as a weak tropical depression with almost no convection. There, lessening wind shear and an influx of moist air allowed the severely weakened Collin to steadily re-intensify while making an unusual U-turn to the west. Re-developing a visible CDO and defined rain bands, Collin strengthened into a tropical storm at 05:00 UTC on January 26. After becoming the first fully tropical hurricane to exist in the Mediterranean at 02:00 UTC the following day, Collin made landfall on Ceuta, Morocco carrying winds of 80 mph (130 km/h) at 09:00 UTC.
Interaction with land and dry air caused the storm to weaken into a tropical storm and its circulation to become partially expose as it re-entered the open Atlantic during the afternoon hours of January 27. Moving southwest along the Azores High, Collin gradually re-strengthened amid favorable conditions, becoming a hurricane at 20:00 UTC on January 29 and a major hurricane at 11:00 UTC on January 31 as an eye redeveloped. After reaching extreme hurricane status at 22:00 UTC on February 2, Collin began to make very erratic loops and turns over the open Atlantic due to a prolonged collapse of strong steering currents, though the storm continued to move in a general westward direction. Its slow movement over very warm waters heated by the still-ongoing Mid-Atlantic Ridge flood basalt eruption allowed Collin to rapidly intensify, becoming a hypercane at 17:00 UTC on February 6, a megacane at 01:00 UTC on February 11 following a brief eyewall replacement cycle, and an infinite storm at 03:00 UTC on February 14. At 06:00 UTC that day, Collin's winds surpassed Infinite Storm Zayin of 2027's record 500 mph (805 km/h) winds while its pressure surpassed Zayin's 578 mbar, officially making it the strongest tropical cyclone on record.
Following the aforementioned peak, Collin continued to make erratic movements while fluctuating in intensity, growing to a size of 3150 miles (5070 kilometers). This broke Sam's record for largest tropical cyclone ever recorded. The storm underwent two major eyewall replacement cycles during this period which caused it to temporarily weaken into a megacane, but it regained infinite storm status within 18 hours in both cases. Eventually, shortly after reaching a peak of 595 mph (955 km/h) and 496 mbar, Collin made landfall on the Inagua Islands at 23:10 UTC on March 1, after which it made a second hit on Moa, Cuba at 13:00 UTC the next day. Land interaction and upwelling caused the storm to finally weaken into a megacane at 20:00 UTC on March 2 and later a hypercane at 09:00 UTC on March 4. Steadily losing convection and shrinking in size, the hurricane made landfall on the Cuban province of Pinar del Rio at 22:00 UTC that day, causing it to weaken below hypercane status and become a Category 10 hurricane at 10:00 UTC on March 5. Making a sharp turn southeast due to the sudden intrusion of a trough to the north, Collin's organization and convection continued to rapidly decline as it began succumbing to the effects of upwelling and wind shear.
At 21:00 UTC on March 6, Collin weakened into a Category 5 hurricane, its eye now ragged and its spiral rainbands ill-defined. The system went as far as dropping down to Category 3 status at 18:00 UTC on March 7, but eventually began re-strengthening the following day as it looped over an area of favorable conditions southwest of Jamaica. At 16:00 UTC on March 8, the storm re-strengthened into a Category 4 as its eye re-cleared on radar. Gradual intensification continued over the next few days as Collin made a turn westward. At 06:00 UTC on March 10, the hurricane made a second landfall on Jamaica while at Category 4 strength before reaching Category 5 status at 07:00 UTC on March 11. Collin eventually reached extreme hurricane status at 02:00 UTC on March 13 after a recon flight into the storm detected sustained winds of 200 mph (320 km/h) in the intensifying Collin's eyewall. Shortly after reaching Category 7 intensity at 22:00 UTC that day, the storm made landfall on Quintana Roo at 02:00 UTC the following day.
Over land, the storm moved south, where it rapidly weakened. Nonetheless, it survived the crossover into the Eastern Pacific Ocean and emerged into the basin as a degraded Category 2 hurricane at 16:00 UTC on March 15. Hostile conditions for tropical cyclone development caused Collin to weaken further into a Category 1 storm at 01:00 UTC on March 16 and its convection to became displaced around 70 mi (113 km) northwest, partially exposing its circulation in the process. However, conditions gradually improved as Collin tracked northwestward parallel to the Mexican coastline, allowing the system to slowly re-intensify. Becoming a Category 2 at 07:00 UTC on March 17 and a Category 3 at 14:00 UTC the next day, Collin regained a fully covered core, an eye-like feature, and robust spiral rain bands. After its upgrade into a major hurricane, very warm waters near the Baja California Peninsula caused Collin to rapidly intensify into a powerful Category 8 on the Saffir-Simpson Scale over a period of 48 hours, with its pressure dropping by a total of 114 mbar. After being upgraded into a Category 9 extreme hurricane at 05:00 UTC on March 21, Collin achieved winds of 265 mph (425 km/h) and a central pressure of 812 millibars before making landfall on Isla Santa Margarita at that intensity.
The flat, dry terrain of Baja California and other parts of western Mexico caused a potent brown ocean effect which allowed Collin to maintain its intensity over the Baja California Peninsula and the Bay of California. Eventually, the storm emerged back into the Pacific Ocean as a weakened but still powerful and well-organized Category 7 hurricane late on March 23, after which it began to re-intensify within hours of re-entering the ocean. Turning northeast towards the state of California due to the influence of an approaching extratropical cyclone to the west, Collin intensified into a high-end Category 10 hurricane over a span of 24 hours on March 24 as convection exploded in the storm's rain bands; exceptionally warm waters of 130°F (54°C), almost nonexistent wind shear, and very moist air aloft were attributed to the storm's explosive deepening. Near the beginning of March 25, Collin intensified into a hypercane as it continued to intensify. It later reached megacane status at 04:00 UTC on March 26 while rapidly growing to a size of well over 3000 miles (4828 kilometers), breaking Hurricane Sam of 2027's record for largest tropical cyclone ever recorded.
03:00 UTC on March 27 marked Megacane Collin's upgrade to Infinite Storm status as well as its landfall on the San Francisco Bay Area, making Collin the first tropical cyclone to ever directly make landfall on the state as well as the strongest to do so. There, the storm generated extremely powerful winds strong enough to disrupt the nearby San Andreas Fault Line, causing earthquakes of up to magnitude 9.8 on the Richter Scale. This, combined with land deformations caused by wind as well as a record-breaking 300-meter storm surge, caused waves and flooding up to 600 meters high that flooded thousands of miles inland, leading to another potent brown ocean effect that allowed Collin to not only maintain its intensity, but strengthen as it traversed the continental United States as an infinite storm over the next several days. Along its path, increasingly powerful earthquakes, megatsunamis, storm surges, winds, and flooding carved immense channels of warm waters perfect for tropical cyclone development. At this time, the record-shattering cyclone also began absorbing rocks and magma from torn pieces of the Earth and volcanic eruptions triggered by the hurricane, causing Collin to gradually become a storm composed of magma as opposed to water vapor like regular hurricanes.
Eventually, at 05:10 UTC on April 2, Collin emerged back into the Atlantic Ocean, making it the first recorded case of an Atlantic tropical cyclone crossing into the Pacific Ocean and back into the Atlantic since Hypercane Iota of 2027. At the time, the NHC estimated Collin's strength at 304 mbar and 780 mph (1255 km/h) - the storm's supersonic winds prevented any hurricane hunter aircraft from probing the storm without being destroyed in the process. After making a tight cyclonic loop around 200 miles north of the former location of Bermuda (which was destroyed during Hurricane Pater of 2027) while experiencing little to no changes in its intensity, Collin began curving northwest towards the Carolinas on April 6. At 12:00 UTC on April 7, the NHC determined that the storm's winds had exceeded 1000 mph, resulting in the formation of a new category: Armageddon Storm. At around the same time, Collin grew to a maximum size of 5600 miles (9012 kilometers) despite its eye only reaching a diameter of 0.5 miles (0.8 kilometers), the smallest ever recorded. At 06:00 UTC on April 9, Collin made landfall on Surf City, North Carolina. Like in other areas of the U.S., extreme flooding and megatsunamis allowed Collin to form a body of water over the area. By 07:00 UTC on April 11, Collin reached a peak intensity of 1180 mph (1900 km/h) and 0 mbar over eastern Lake Erie. The storm's 0 mbar pressure meant that the armageddon storm's eye had become a vacuum; this caused the storm to instantaneously collapse into a black hole and get ejected into outer space. The heat from this process evaporated the sea carved by Collin that existed over the Carolinas. Advisories on the storm ended shortly after; Collin's black hole remnant went on to exit the Sun's sphere-of-influence, travel through interstellar space, and eventually land in the Tornelingffhian Uingffhicane Basin during the 0022 Tornelingffhian Uingffhicane Season.
Preparations[]
Cape Verde[]
The first tropical cyclone watches and warnings were issued immediately upon Collin's formation just west of the Cabo Verde Islands, with a tropical storm watch being issued at 23:00 UTC on December 11. By the next day, the National Weather Service had discontinued all alerts in the region as the storm moved away from the area.
During late March to early April, as Collin wrought havoc across the continental United States and displaced much of its land, the NWS issued multiple tsunami watches, advisories, and warnings for the islands. Upon Collin's exit into the vacuum of space on April 11 and the subsequent creation of an even larger megatsunami, the NWS included Cabo Verde in its Atlantic-wide tsunami warning issued at 08:00 UTC that day. These alerts did not cease until the end of April due to further geological unrest left behind by the armageddon storm.
Caribbean[]
Leeward Isles[]
A hurricane watch was issued for the Leeward Islands at 22:00 UTC on December 18 as the storm approached as an intensifying Category 5 hurricane. The NWS upgraded these alerts to hurricane warnings on December 19. In light of the storm's rapid intensification to Category 8 status, the local governments of all islands in the Leeward Isles ordered mandatory evacuation of all >700,000 of its inhabitants. The evacuees returned and the NWS lifted all watches and warnings in the Leeward Isles by December 25.
During late March to early April, as Collin wrought havoc across the continental United States and displaced much of its land, the NWS issued multiple tsunami watches, advisories, and warnings for the islands. Upon Collin's exit into the vacuum of space on April 11 and the subsequent creation of an even larger megatsunami, the NWS included the Leeward Isles in its Atlantic-wide tsunami warning issued at 08:00 UTC that day. These alerts did not cease until the end of April due to further geological unrest left behind by the armageddon storm.
WIP