上星期強烈颶風萊恩 (Hurricane Lane) 侵襲夏威夷，周末聽BBC News廣播，檀香山市長 (Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell) 提醒市民保持警戒，不能鬆懈： “to be vigilant and not let their guard down”. 不過接下這句讓我愣了一下，“But he was happy to hear the storm deteriorated.” 他的意思是他很高興已「減弱」(declined/degenerated/downgraded)，但 “the storm deteriorated” 也可能指暴風雨「惡化/加劇」 (worsened/got worse)。
加拿大歷史上著名的船難，1804雙桅縱帆船 (twin-masted schooner) HMS Speedy遇暴風雪 (blizzard) 沉沒的記述，就提到暴風雨「惡化」成暴風雪 (the storm deteriorated into blizzard)。
“Speedy and the canoe were separated as the storm deteriorated into blizzard conditions during the afternoon and evening of 8 October.”
各大英文媒體在報導颶風萊恩減弱時，標題也沒有一家用deteriorated這個字，而是說downgraded之類：
Hawaii hurricane: Lane downgraded to tropical storm - CNBC.com; Once-powerful Hawaii hurricane downgraded to tropical storm (TVNZ); Lane downgraded to tropical storm, still poses flooding threat to ... (ABC); Hawaii Emerges From Threat As Storm Veers Away From Islands ... (Weatherbug); Warnings dropped as Lane turns away from Hawaii - WGAL-TV
(Jerome Su, August 30, 2018)