Tropical Storm Edouard & Severe Wxr in Chicago w/ Hurricane Gusts

What night for weather! This is like Monday Night Football for the weather set!

Before I talk about Edouard I wanted to say that a very severe cell of thunderstorms with bow echoes and a C shaped on radar is moving rapidly towards the Chicago/Evanston area. They may have winds in excess of 80 mph with these storms and possible tornadoes. I find it sort of ironic that while we watch Edouard loop in the Gulf of Mexico people in Chicago may have stronger winds tonight than Texas may have tomorrow from Edouard.

That is the irony of weather at it's best and why we are so in awe of the ever changing. The best live, reality show on Television.

And, whenever weather happens somewhere else it makes me wonder how the pattern will affect future storms and tracks as everything is connected in the world of weather. When I studied International Relations in college I specialized in the concept of linkage. There is more linkage in weather than there is in politics. Everything is linked intricately, the whole flow of the atmosphere and the ocean currents, temperatures of the water, speed of the upper level flow, etc, etc, etc...

Live feed from breaking weather in Chicago.. Cell Towers down and already damage reports.

http://media.myfoxchicago.com/live

So... where are we with Edouard tonight? He is drifting to the west. The much anticipated wnw movement has not begun though I have heard talk that he may make a curve up towards the coast faster than later. And, yet he has stayed south, moved west and paralleled the coastline for quite a while now. He is not yet a strong Tropical Storm and yet... he does look better tonight. He is developing banding in all directions and looking awfully round compared to last night. Pressures are dropping and he has broken the 1,000 barrier and recon found 999mb.

We'll see what they say at 11. But, it is important not to count out this storm because it is small and yet at the same time there is no need to hype it with memories of the 1900 Galveston Hurricane or Rita. It's a tropical storm that is beginning to pull itself together.

The area affected is small as the storm is small. Winds away from the center are weak, only 15 or 20 miles out for now though am sure that will change as the storm intensifies.. if it intensifies. There is no need for panic.

There is a need to stay tuned and pay close attention for any changes.

Watching TWC currently as they are covering the line going through Chicago where I have friends in Evanston and I'm thinking this is the same system that keeps producing storms across Wisconsin and Iowa. And, again I think the upper mid Atlantic Coast could have hurricane problems later this hurricane season.

If you look carefully on the water vapor loop you can see an upper level low has formed to it's left..SW and if that continues to develop that may steer this storm more than any "short wave" to it's north. The upper level low may gently sort of scoop Edouard and lift him sort of towards the Texas/Louisiana coastline and spare Galveston Bay and Houston the stronger weather. That's a maybe.. possible, just a thought from looking at the water vapor loop.

The Sabine River area is one of the most beautiful natural areas in that region. A whole watershed of rivers, bayous and places to fish or just relax along the lazy river that winds it's way north (or south) along the Texas/La border.

Galveston Bay is one of the area's largest estuaries and as well as a vacation resort of portal to the Houston Ship Channel.

It is beautiful country down there along the coastline.

Some random notes while I watch the line approach Chicago and while I watch Edouard spin.

The GFDL model continues to intensify Edouard into a hurricane and threads Galveston Bay as it's landfall location. That could change but the GFDL gets attention from mets and news crews are lined up for morning live shots as is TWC currently live with Ms. Abrams doing live updates from the now famous seawall.

Random though.. I think there is something about this season that reminds me of the summer of 1985 that had hot weather and storms along the gulf.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985_Atlantic_hurricane_season
http://weather.unisys.com/hurricane/atlantic/1985/index.html
Interesting analog year I believe for a lot of reasons.

At www.hurricanecity.com Jim is going live tonight..check it out! c

Though the Gulf is hot this is not super hot for the Gulf and there is a lot of shear so Edouard isn't exactly bombing.

http://adds.aviationweather.gov/satellite/displaySat.php?
region=GULF&isingle=mult_big&itype=vis
great loop from Chris at HurrCity

Some good info on the area that could be affected by Edouard or you might want to go vacation at in the near future. Read and learn :)

http://www.toledo-bend.com/attractions/index.asp?request=toro3

A wild list of hurricane history in the area of the Sabine River in those years way before Global Warming debates! Good reading and it gives y'all a better idea of the way hurricanes have shaped the history of growth in this area.. and the destruction of many small cities and areas that did not grow back that fast. An amazing primer in hurricane history for anyone who enjoys reading on this subject. A must read!


http://www.thecajuns.com/lahurricanes.htm

A good read on the whole Sabine River area as well as the Galveston Bay area that may both be directly or indirectly affected by the movement and landfall of Edouard.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabine_River_(Texas-Louisiana)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galveston_Bay
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galveston

Best sat images up close and personal are on this site. Click on the visible loop.
The BEST I have seen all night!

http://rammb.cira.colostate.edu/products/tc_realtime/storm.asp?
storm_identifier=AL052008

Great Radar loop:
http://www.joesdiscoweathercentral.com/Storm_Floater_Radar.html (you can stare at this for hours)

http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?CityName=Galveston&state=
TX&site=HGX&textField1=29.3&textField2=-94.795&e=0

Understand you can't always get what you want in life. Sometimes you can but will it stop at just some good rainfall? They are in areas a foot below normal and in drought mode so rain would be good. Where and how much and how much wind with it is the question as he may reach hurricane status during his slow crawl towards shore.

But tonight while the sun sets on Galveston Bay there is hardly any surf to speak of yet over Lake Michigan tornadoes are forming. Weather.. always unpredictable and exciting.

Besos Bobbi
Will post pics and maps later but watching coverage live out of Chicago. Damage from this line may steal the show tomorrow from Edouard, go figure. Who could have figured this morning??

http://media.myfoxchicago.com/live
Sirens are going off live .... very breaking news!