A writer and a tropical muse. A funky Lubavitcher who enjoys watching the weather, hurricanes, listening to music while enjoying life with a sense of humor and trying to make sense of it all!
Monday, May 20, 2019
Subtropical Storm Andrea Forms in Atlantic! Tornadoes on Southern Plains... PTS Tornado Watches...
Updated! CARIBBEAN GETS A YELLOW CIRCLE. NORMAN IN PACIFIC GOES MAJOR IN A BIG WAY. PTC6 Forms. Potential Tropical Storm. Forecast to be a TS in 24 Hrs or Less, Hurricane Down the Road. Name Will Be Florence. Tropical Wave Closer to SE Coast Being Watched. More Updates Later Today.
7 PM Update.
Things worth thinking on.
The X is where the area is currently.
The circle is where it is expected to form.
Remember this is a forecast it's not set in stone.
Expected is the key word.
Anywhere in that bigger circle.
The long awaited yellow circle in the Carib is here.
So now what?
We watch it.
Again it will go where there is low pressure.
It will stay away from high pressure.
If shear is weak, it develops more.
Let us look at the two pictures below.
Picasso couldn't do better than Mother Nature.
Note the large area of convection in the GOM
Near where the current yellow circle is....
...note the large wave bottom right.
It has a look the wave... just saying.
I wouldn't be surprised if it develops.
Again note the closeness of the convection to it's NW.
There is a high aloft.
It only has one place to go.
High pressure to the North.
It goes WNW towards the Low Pressure.
I'm not saying it's super low pressure there now..
(Jim... talking comparatively, where there's convection...
... the pressures are lower than to the North)
So keep watching.
Note there are already heavy rains in PR.
You don't need a name to get dangerous amounts of rain.
Note everyone's watching the shear charts.
As lowered shear will tell much of the story.
Now as for PTC6
(almost rhymes...
PEE TEE CEE 6 ..see?)
To be clear what a PTC6 is I've shown Phil's post.
Phil is a friend. He is a good man.
A very good meteorologist.
Good explanation....
..as it can be confusing.
Now why am I talking about Norman?
I say all the time the Pacific is not my ocean...
It's a good lesson in how fast things can change.
Norman was expected to develop some...
But nowhere near as strong as it is..
Note the following discussion.
Yesterday...
Expected to top out at 125 MPH.
Your regular run of the mill discussion.
Later Wednesday. SHIPS model mentioned.
Rapid Intensification very high.
Talk on the ridge, direction, etc.
Expected to top out at 130 MPH.
Tonight.
150 MPH.
20 MPH more than forecast.
Now they are forecasting 155 MPH...
How high can it go?
My goodness.
I don't really mean to be sarcastic. I mean to educate that hurricanes are unpredictable.
Even in today's age with good modeling.
Luckily Norman isn't threatening land.
Now replace Norman with the Labor Day Hurricane.
Wilma when she exploded...
Katrina in the GOM
Never believe a forecast 100%
In the 24 hour it's solid.
3 Day forecast is very good usually.
5 Day is often good.
But when someone tells you:
"It's a fish storm"
"Stick a fork in it.. it's all over"
Do not believe it until you see it.
The NHC corrects in real time ...
...responding to what the storm does.
Models correct to reality as well.
If a hurricane is out there somewhere near you...
...or way to the South of you or SE..
Watch it.
If a strong tropical wave is forecast to develop some..
... pay attention.
Check back often.
Andrew was supposed to catch the trof to the Carolinas.
Andrew was supposed to die and was on life support.
Then something changed.
Remember that.
I'll update as needed.
If you haven't read this earlier...
...continue reading.
If not...
Sweet Tropical Dreams.
* * *
Guess we can call today a day of Live Blogging. Not making a new post for a Potential Tropical Cyclone though the name is a good call as it's still crawling off the coast of Africa as seen below on images I've posted. Forecast discussion shows their solid belief that this becomes the 3rd Hurricane of the 2018 Hurricane Season (if you are keeping track) so not such a slow season number wise even if many were Subtropical Storms or short lived storms.
Kind of an "in abundance of caution"
They need to designate it to put up watches and warnings.
Government agencies have rules you know.
Rules are often good to have.
Guidelines.
Something I want you to think on as in "notice" in that it is a common signature as the tropics heat up. You can see where our undeveloped Tropical Wave in the Caribbean is on a thin leash of moisture to the ITCZ in the Atlantic that goes all the way back to what will be Florence. This is how storms connect and stay alive. They need moisture. Often there is a hand off of energy from one area to the other as the tropical waves progress West. Note how it sucks up the "orange energy" from the ITCZ in the MDR (Main Development Region of the Atlantic) and then starts to suck up energy from moisture down near South America. http://tropic.ssec.wisc.edu/real-time/mimic-tpw/natl/anim/latest72hrs.gif
The link is above if this doesn't work well.
You never know with this site so posting the link as well.
Stay tuned.
More updates later as information is updated.
From earlier today.
Note the discussion on the Tropical Wave in the Carib below.
Let's call it the Labor Day Tropical Wave for now.
* * *
We went from a wave to PTC6 in hours ...
...after it rolled off of Africa.
How bout those water temps now?
We are heading into tropical trouble now.
September Remember
All the basics are up on Spaghetti Models.
Models in the short term show a Fish Storm.
F for Florence the Fish Storm.
But down the road things might change.
Is the strong high really opening up wide?
Could it snap back shut?
We will know soon enough.
NRL has the page up but few images yet.
We have just begun studying it.
That will change.
Well that's a done deal. You can see the circulation tightly wound up below. Watches and warnings will need to be hoisted it seems for the Cabo Verde Islands. Expect a Tropical Depression to form soon from the short lived Invest 90L that is being studied. I'll update this later today as watches and warnings are posted and there is more actual discussion on Invest 90L that will become Florence it seems soon. Doubtful the tropical wave in the Caribbean could develop that fast to steal that name from what is already a done deal.
You don't have to ask why they need to put out a package.
Often the CV Islands are the first to see the storm.
The product above tells the story.
The story's name is Florence.
You can see her clearly shown below.
This has been forecast for days to be a "Fish Storm"
Though again I have low confidence
Track is set for the next 3 to 5 days.
Beyond that I'll wait to see what develops.
I'll update later as information comes in.
As for the tropical wave close to the US that everyone is watching, but the NHC has not yet designated in tropical update as of 8 AM. That could change, but the wave itself has to change or get into a better place int he atmosphere to allow development. What concerns me is that South Florida has been plagued daily by strong thunderstorms as one tropical wave after another has crossed over that area for the last few months. They are just waves and they amp up the already unstable air into huge colorful displays of monsoonal masterpieces as people try to navigate through the traffic on I95 while taking pictures of what seems like end of the world storms. My daughter was stuck in flooding on I95 in one of those storms as the water on the highway rose fast and luckily she was able to get where she is going and drain out the car.......
So should anything develop and get into that sweet spot where low pressure is more available and the shear is low, the tropical wave could go from nothing much to something really fast. That happens often as the waters that surround the Florida peninsular are close to 90 degrees this time of year. So while there is nothing there currently we have to watch carefully when we see a strong "robust" tropical wave that stubbornly made it across the Atlantic despite SAL and lower water temperatures and strong shear there as well. Keep watching.
You know it's September in Miami when you wake up to "Morning Rain" and that's a sign the pattern has changed, the calendar page is about to be turned and we remember it's prime time in the tropics.
People from North Carolina to Texas this time of year begin evaluating each storm from their perspective as well as their own excellent knowledge of the hurricane history in their own part of the world. No one has to remind New Orleans as www.nola.com knows as they re dealing with the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina this week.
Stay tuned.......it's that time of year when those tropical waves begin to Twist and Shout even if they are screaming "Fish Storms" we always have to watch them as they are prone to do some unexpected things.
Location: Miami, Raleigh, Crown Heights, Florida, United States
Weather Historian. Studied meteorology and geography at FIU. Been quoted in Wall Street Journal, Washington Post & everywhere else... Lecturer, stormchaser, writer, dancer. If it's tropical it's topical ... covering the weather & musing on life. Follow me on Twitter @ https://twitter.com/#!/BobbiStorm
