Hurricane Harbor

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!

Wednesday, July 10, 2019

11 PM UPDATE - Tropical Storm Barry Forming From PTC2 in the GOM CLOSE TO LAND. Forecast to be Cat 1 Hurricane by NHC. Louisiana in the Cross Hairs for RAIN FLOODING. Recon going in later today. NHC Cone. Tropics NOW.

11 PM Update on PTC2
Maybe tomorrow.....
Still only 30 MPH

Broad center with multiple centers.
The center has not stacked yet.
Kind of a center but no cigar..


Note it's a very slow mover for a while.
At some point it picks up speed.
Develops close in over very warm waters.
Caveat here is IF a real center stacks up.
Models insist that will happen.

Note salient discussion points tonight from NHC


"multiple low level swirls associated with individual convective
cells were noted in the aircraft wind data"

Great product NHC puts out.
Flooding potential... 



Will start over in the morning.
Maybe tomorrow..
Tomorrow is always a day away.

Sweet Tropical Dreams,
BobbiStorm


Recon may have found a center........
........waiting to see what NHC says.
NHC said they found a broad center...........
and another smaller center and another.
Not there yet was the verdict.




thru 

Look carefully.
Barry's getting a center.
A belly button even.
Seriously... 
Takes a while to come together.
Give him some time to breathe.

Updating live today.
New info at the top...
..if you didn't read this morning's post please read all.

5 PM Update.




Nice graphic there. 
Simple. Clear.


You can read the Discussion yourself.
I highlighted parts I felt were salient.



I have said before I see it being impacted by shear.
Not strong shear but shear is there.
For a developing system that's hard.
It's center has to stack vertically to develop.
So any shear is an issue.
Water temperature is HOT.
Water Vapor Loop shows some shear.
NHC acknowledges it.
Below I want to call your attention to Number 4.
Slow movement .. Flash Flooding... River Flooding.


As for water temperature...
It's that hot.


Water upwards of 85 degrees.
85 to 90 degrees.
85 degrees close in....

As for what cities have possibilities...

Pretty much every city for miles around has some probability.
Even far outside the cone.
You need to read the small print to know what the Wind Probs mean.
I was trained to use it for various purposes.
I was trained by specialists in the field.
Good advice.


To understand how the NHC explains the Cone.
Here's the link below.


There's lots of rules and explanations on their site.

This is difficult as many on air specialists explain it differently.
Max Mayfield who is long gone talked on it often.


It's a bit old but it's from Max Mayfield.
Every director is different.
There have been a lot of different directors of late.

I know how Rick Knabb explains it on air.
Here's his Twitter link https://twitter.com/drrickknabb?lang=en

Know what Rick said recently is my main concern.
What do we know? 
We know it will be slow movement for the short term.



Good advice to remember.



Then See Monday. Barely moving.
Weak steering currents currently forecast.






The official NOAA forecast has it over LA thru Monday.
That could change.
But the flooding inland would be a problem.

My bottom line:

Let me explain how this goes. It's currently raining off and on in Louisiana and other places nearby. There was flooding this morning as well as a tornado. It floods easily there but more easily with heavy tropical rain. The river is already swollen... you know the Mississippi River and it's low lying filled with lots of bayous that flood. That water rises and the structures holding it will have problems with it and yes I'm talking about a slow moving minimal hurricane. Then it makes landfall and moves SLOWLY UP River... that is flooding.......then it moves further up into Texas, Mississippi and Arkansas not to let E Oklahoma off the hook. That adds more water to the River and where do you think that water goes? Well it tries to go downstream. This has the potential for a real, flooding mess that will impact many people's lives over a wide area and it's the beginning of the hurricane season so who knows what else will come there way later in the season.

Oh and the Atlantic is about to come alive.
As in 1-2-3 or rather 3-4-5
ABC .. that fast.

Until the steering currents open up the gates.
And let Barry leave....
... Barry is stuck as seen here.


And it's slowly coming together.
Some models show a stronger hurricane.
We can talk on that tomorrow.


You have a big bull in a China Shop.
A tea kettle full and spilling over everywhere.
Flooding. 
This is the concern here........

As for me I'm going out tonight.
I'm going to wear my Drunk Donkey Tee Shirt
And wear a real short skirt ;)
(giggling)
And eat good Southern Food and drink Craft Beer.
And I'll be back to see what we see... 

Thank you TREMENDOUSLY for your feedback ...
...and great discussion on Twitter and elsewhere.

Sweet Tropical Dreams...
BobbiStorm on Twitter & Instagram.
Follow me there for real time discusison.

atl_ir4_sat_tropicalindex_anim.gif (640×480)

Note it's raining all over the place...
N FL to LA/TX border.
Not a good set up before landfall.
Before we even knew it's name was Tropical Storm Barry..

Besos .........


I'm sure I'm part of that huge number of hits ;)







* * * 

2 PM 


Note NHC has this as HURRICANE BARRY at landfall.
What category depends on many things.

Note it's a developing cyclone.
Movement WSW currently.
That could also be part of center reforming.
We don't have a clear cut center.
High behind it is strong.
High to it's NW is strong and moving East.

You can use the loop and see this happening as well.


'
See how the yellow area moves down 
The developing cyclone responds with WSW movement


Also note this is growing in moisture.
It is over octane fuel water temperature wise.
It has moisture below it and it is sucking that in..
A potentially dangerous set up.


Mimic loop I used to call OJ Loop ..


Note there there is deep supply of moisture below to the S.
Hurricanes know how to suck that moisture up.
That's why they develop a long tail.
Those were waves that didn't develop.
But stayed together.
Note there are waves in the Atlantic.
By the end of the month we will be tracking Atlantic storms.


That's a strong, healthy ITCZ
Waves make it across.
EURO develops a wave down the road.
Stay tuned.

Back to Barry...


Earlier at the beginning of the loop there was moisture S of Cuba.
PTC2 sucked it up into the GOM.

Watch in real time the two areas interact.

gom_ir4_sat_tropicalindex_anim.gif (640×480)

This loop is on www.spaghettimodels.com

Mike is awesome and always adding links.
Also has specialized Barry Links.
It will be Barry soon.

Earthnull shows the center.
The center is trying to come together.
You can see it's not perfect yet.


Give it time.

Models show a hurricane just off shore.
Models change on each run.



Know some models do intensify it more.
I'm waiting for info from recon and next model runs.
Also waiting for Barry to become Barry.
Another link from NHC that's good to use is shown below.
If you use the link below it is interactive.
It can show you down to your city where you are in the cone.


People to follow on Twitter


He knows weather, hurricanes and Nola.



I'm putting this up because........
...people in Miami keep asking me.
"how do we know it won't turn back to the East"
That's why. 

As for experts we have Bryan Norcross



If you can't trust him who can you trust?





First off Recon is IN the system.


***
Keep reading if you didn't read this mornings blog.
Updating in real time today at the top.
Be back later Bobbi


Note NHC Forecasts this to become Hurricane Barry...
in NHC Discussion 


Discussion 


That is not locked in.
Often intensity forecasting is the hardest part.
So always prepare for 1 category higher.
Just in case.
Better safe and prepared than sorry.

Potential Tropical Cyclone 2 to be TS Barry eventually.
Eventually Hurricane Barry.
Much awaited Cone below.


Rainfall projection.
For now rain is the name of the game.
We can worry on stronger winds later.
More people die from water than wind.
Run from the water.
Hide from the wind.
Hard to get to where you need to hide...
...if your route to get out is blocked by water.
Because op the shape of Louisiana...
Parts of Mississippi and Texas are in this...
Long range Oklahoma and Arkansas gets rain.


Tropical Storm Watch issued.
Mouth of Mississippi River to Morgan City, La

Storm watches from Pearl River to Morgan City.






Note the river flooding problem goes N up into Arkansas possibly.

The reason I was upset yesterday about the slowness of the NHC to put out their PTC2 product is because in this case it's not about LANDFALL today but about rain ahead of Barry while PTC2 tried to come together. You add in WARM WATER and localized rain and HOT weather and you have rain falling in flash flood proportions TODAY.. and I knew that would happen YESTERDAY. There is way too much obsession on what city will get to be landfall as if it's some contest. This is not a Cat 5 Hurricane with a small core of dangerous winds that people need to know where that tight Andrew like eye is going as much as WHERE IS THE WEATHER GOING and WHO WILL GET FLOODING and that area is a wide swath along the many populated cities that lie from the Mobile to Houston. Houston is not in the cone but does Barry wrap up or does it's weather go everywhere? It's a difficult forecast for the NHC as it's evolving and developing in real time. And time is of the essence to prepare both down by the Gulf of Mexico and up in the back woods prone to flooding along the Mississippi River, the Pearl River and the Sabine River. Lots of rivers and bayous there and they are all prone to flooding even far from the point of landfall.



I will update this blog in real time ...
Keep checking back soon.
It will be a Live Blog  today.



NHC did issue a PTC2 Discussion.
There were rumors in the wind that was happening at 11 AM.
But at 9 AM the NHC had this up.
Either way recon is going in soon .........



Waiting on RECON to go in obviously.
Better recon data gives us better model runs.
More info for the NHC to put into their advisories.
Nuff said on that for now..... 
(read previous blog for my thoughts)

You can see the highlighted part below.
Waiting on recon...
...stand by for advisories later.


So what's the info on models?
Where does it go?
Mike who knows what people want knows.


Obviously Louisiana has a bulls eye on it.
New Orleans actually has a TORNADO warning this morning.
Tornadoes could be a problem later from Barry


Why now?
Because this is a slow developing storm.
But the RAIN is the NAME of the GAME today.
And the rain that will fall for the next few days........
.....BEFORE BARRY MAKES LANDFALL
Could make epic flooding.


Listen to people who know.
Weather people, Storm Chasers KNOW.
They know the END result often.
The NHC puts up a CONE... eventually.



Mimic Loop shows spin slowly coming together.

See the larger S shape around general moisture mess


Let's go back to the models.
Keeping this simple this morning.

I had to stop writing to take a picture of the TV.
Yes, how Old School.
Welcome to my world.
No time to play with webcams or searches.
TWC showing the webcam.
Duh...so ignore the "took a pic of tv" look.
The message is the thing here.


And yes I have a map on my wall.
Told you I love maps.

Note this TWEET 15 HOURS AGO.



Understand New Orleans and areas around it....
........do not need Harvey like rain totals to flood.
Actually Houston floods fast too.
It's BAYOU country.
It's a swamp basically.
This is the problem.
Barry won't be Camille.
This is not a wind event but a rain/flooding event.



NOTE... the models again.
Posting this twice.

The HWRF last night set the tropical world on fire.
It showed RI upon landfall and a strong hurricane.
Everyone went crazy on that one model run.
As they do every time the GFS agrees with the EURO.
HWRF had it's 15 minutes of fame.
IF that happens everyone will ask about the HWRF.
The next run pulled back a bit this morning.
Oh well.
Note the ICON is being watched by many.

So let's let RECON fly into the plane.
Let's let the NHC do it's official thing.

The GOVERNOR of LOUISIANA DIDN'T WAIT.
Nola is not playing wait and watch game.
Their mets know the story.

Check the loop out below.
Note this is an official GOV product


allfcsts_loop_ndfd.gif (799×559)

We have a Low by Louisiana.
NOTE the WHOLE LOOP it's under RAIN.
Rain is the name of the GAME.

Lastly IF Barry goes up into the Mississippi River Valley.
There will be more rain as it's been at Flood Stage since February.
It really can't handle that much rain.

So while no it's not Harvey sort of rain.
It's still way too much and a pain.

It's not that hard to see where the NHC will put the cone.


Louisiana for now.
Texas near the Sabine River COULD be in it.
It could move closer to Mississippi or Texas....
 if something changes.
Things often change in real time.
So keep checking back.
Pay attention to your local weather sources.

You should be following these two ...


They do a great job EARLY .. 
BEFORE the CONE.
During the Cone.
Deep info.



And yeah obviously NWS New Orleans.


Current picture of their page.


This says it all.
Flash Flood Warning Wednesday Morning.

It's that simple.

Will it be a Hurricane?
How strong a hurricane?
So many questions.

But the WATER is the problem here.
Not the wind.
I don't count anything out but....
It's that simple.
If it becomes a Cat 2 act accordingly.





Look how close to land, over land this weather is.
Before Barry forms.

More people die from FLOODING than wind.
This area is prone to flooding.
This will be a flooding/rain event.

So BobbiStorm's Bottom Line
If you live in this area prepare now.
Prepare according to your concerns.
Is flooding an often problem in your area?
Then get out of your area.
If not hunker down.
Get supplies because you'll need them.
Stores and roads could be closed for a while.
Monitor the progress of the system.
Follow local sources they know your concerns.

I think this will be a Louisiana landfall.
I could be wrong but currently seems so.
Even so a "center" could hit TX but the rain...
...the rain will impact Louisiana.
And people UP RIVER...
Should watch because the RIVER already has problems.

I'll update later so check back often.
Models that shows this paralleling the coast..
is dangerous in a Charley way.
Not because RI or wind speed.
But because hard to say which CITY gets it ...
It's not an easy set up.
But we know it's there.
We can prepare.

Close Up Loop

atl_ir4_sat_tropicalindex_anim.gif (640×480)

Wide Loop

GOES16-TAW-GEOCOLOR-900x540.gif (900×540)


Note the Wave Train off Africa.
After we are done with Barry.....
... We will have Chantal to contend with.
And that WAVE South of Cuba has been cooking.

Besos BobbiStorm
@bobbistorm on Twitter and Instagram.
Follow me there for real time responses and discussion.

Ps.... read the previous blog.
I complained on things I am not gonna rant on now.
But I think it's way too close to land now.
It was obvious the NHC is going with the slow forming model.
It's way too close to land and surprises do pop up.
I'd rather have had an official PTCW up earlier not later.
Fly the planes in ...
... they are outta MS it's not a long flight.
Data is good for details.
We need the dropsonde data.

Those that know me know I love Nola.
I was the Keynote Speaker at a Conference there....
...on a riverboat in the Mississippi River :)

So enjoy the song.
Pray the EURO is wrong.
Hope the GFS knows something.
But even without developing deep.
The rain is the name of the game.

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Monday, September 03, 2018

Tropical Storm Gordon Forms... No Longer Just PTC7. SEVEN HOVERING OVER MIAMI & SOUTH FL.. NHC & PTC7 ... Long Range Discussion on Florence and How the Fish Menu May Be Pulled For BBQ. East Coast Long Range Threat. Nola & GOM Has Watches but... Miami Does Not. NWS Watches & Warnings UP




This is why we love Mike.
He's always on top of it.

Hypocrisy never looks good on Gov. Officials.
You can name a storm without recon when you want to..
...but not over Miami??

Will update with full package.
Leaving this up as it needed to be said.
Please refer to new blog post with more info.

*** 









BREAKING NEWS
Tropical Storm Gordon.
NHC made a call.......
Will update with complete package soon.
Please read why waiting at 8 was ... silly.






Close by no cigar.
Still PTC7 at 8 AM.


They need recon.............
Stand out on the balcony at AOML
Hard to see currently in Biscayne Bay.
Make a call.


I'll make a call.
I'm just gonna call it SEVEN today.


Most Miami Mets could make that call...


Waiting on recon............


But not the NHC.


Yet they upgrade often w/o recon.

It's something about Miami.
Really.

For some reason out of an abundance of caution they hoist watches for Louisiana when a system isn't even present and it's so far out many models don't even support the development of a named storm. However if a tropical depression is hovering over Miami the NHC holds off and waits until it is officially past Miami before putting an name on it. Now days we have "Potential Tropical Cyclone 7" as a name and if anyone can't figure out what that means they obviously don't know how to speak English and don't know how to put that into a Google Translator. It may look stupid PTC7 (being honest) but when you say Potential Tropical Cyclone 7 it is as clear as... the circulation that is closing off and coming into South Florida on it's way to the Gulf of Mexico where watches are already posted. But we have watches and warnings up from the NWS so it's okay. Thank God really for the local mets that cover the coverage area and explain the dangers present even without an official watch or warning.


There's the Green Turtle View.


The Miami Teal Blue View.


There's the STAY INSIDE TODAY view.


Let's just call it what it is.
Tropical Depression 7.
Drop the initials.
It should be Gordon soon.
For now let's call it SEVEN

Where is SEVEN going?


Today's Blog is a matter of perspective.
IF I was in Miami right now I'd probably be nuts.
I'd probably be ranting.
I'd be pointing out the banding.
I'm just pointing out the obvious.


And then there's Earthnull.


The circular bands on radar.
What seems to be a closed system on Earthnull.
Do we really have to have the forecast justify?
NHC says it forms further West.
Later today.

Seriously you need to send recon into this?
Stick out your thumb on a beach in Key Biscayne.
I'm pretty sure this isn't that hard to figure.
But the forecast says later today.
Looks closed to me.


Never scare the tourists.
Unless they are five days away in New Orleans.


NHC will stick by it's forecast.
Miamians are used to rain....
...what's the big deal?

As for Florence.
I'm watching it carefully.
It's where I said it would be days ago.
I never bought the Fish Menu.
Fish is still on the Menu..
...put it's beginning to look like BBQ


These are long range models.
Things change often.
The EURO has been very consistent with this scenario.
Well after the early FISH discussion.
It's been meat and potatoes ever since.
East Carolina or VA BBQ?

Hurricane Tracker App is great.
They show the models.
But they are careful with their words.
This is the "ensemble" model.


Basically Florence could go anywhere...
...but if she stays weak she most likely will continue West.
Now would be a good time for a cold front.
No strong front and no lock on "out to sea"
Florence is your classic late bloomer.
Gets to warmer water and she can explode.

Everything is heating up online now.
You can smell the napalm in the air this morning...
...on the Internet.


Anyone who has ever been burned by a Cane Forecast...
...is watching intently.




In truth today's a new day, yet the EURO is showing what everyone knew it would show. A possible landfall or glancing blow along the East Coast. You can only extrapolate so much with a hurricane trapped under a ridge heading for coast in the long term models. To add o the confusion there is a parade of wanna be hurricanes, many remaining weak yet remaining on some of the models keeping us all in suspense along the hurricane coast. Looks a lot like a carousel in motion. But remember when one horse goes up, one goes down while some don't go anywhere. Energy needs to flow, only in 2017 did they all develop, so take those multiple storms on the models with lots of grains of salt and wait to see which ones pan out. Kind of like trying to choose which horse you want to sit on at the carousel.



This was where we left off...


The above image was in yesterday's post.
Now we are here.
More than a week away.
EURO HAS BEEN CONSISTENT.


You can't add 8 + 1 and not get 9.
The math needs to change in the short term first.
As long as FLO keeps going WNW steady... 
..and the ridge is there.
We end up here.

Official NHC Track at 5 AM.


What do we do?
Keep watching.
Publix has good buy 1 get 1 specials.
Many items good for hurricane supplies.

Of course if you are in Miami....
...just hunker down and wait it out.

But there are more coming behind this one...



Besos BobbiStorm
@bobbistorm on Twitter
I'll update later today...
...when the NHC has more to say.






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