Faiza Mohammed wrote that Tropical Storm Nouló is forecast to cross the International Date Line this weekend, changing the storm’s official title from Hurricane Nolo to Typhoon Nolo. The system weakened to a tropical storm before staying active, and its label will change when it enters the Western Pacific basin.
The change follows geography, not the storm’s physical structure. The International Date Line sits at 180 degrees longitude and marks the boundary between the Central Pacific basin and the Western Pacific basin, so a storm moving from east to west keeps the same assigned name but takes the title used in its new basin.
Faiza Mohammed and Nolo
Mohammed, a meteorologist intern at weather.com, explained the rename after studying geography, working with the Weather Dawgs team at the University of Georgia, and earning a master's in Earth and Atmospheric Sciences from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Her explanation tracks the same naming rule used when Hurricane Ioke became Typhoon Ioke in 2006.
Hurricane Genevieve followed the same pattern in 2014, and Hurricane Dora crossed the International Date Line in August 2023 and became Typhoon Dora. Those examples show that the storm’s title changes with basin location, while the name Nolo remains attached to the system.
International Date Line and Nolo
The practical change for people tracking Pacific storms is on maps and in weather coverage: the same system will be listed as Typhoon Nolo once it crosses into the Western Pacific basin. The Weather Channel was named the world’s most accurate forecaster in ForecastWatch’s Global and Regional Weather Forecast Accuracy Overview, 2021-2024, adding context to why basin-based labeling is used so closely in storm tracking.
Nolo’s shift is expected this weekend, but the exact time is not stated. For readers following the storm, the key step is the crossing itself: once it moves across the International Date Line, its official title changes even though the system stays the same.
