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!
Tuesday, May 22, 2018
UPDATED!! Invest 90L Stands It's Ground 50% in 5 Days ...Orange Like the Lava. Beach Washout Likely Memorial Day Weekend For Many Beach Vacations. Is Alberto Going to Form Before June 1st?
Update as of 7 PM Tuesday.
Chances for development over the next FIVE days are now up to 50%. Currently because of interaction with land and strong upper level winds development is not expected to happen for a while. In about 2 to 3 days when Invest 90L has lifted up into the very warm Gulf of Mexico and if the forecast for reduced shear verifies than it has a chance to develop; actually a 50/50 chance of developing. Not it is currently a broad area of spin and you can see signs of that spin on both sides of the Yucatan. This is not very organized, however it has potential.
My advice is sit back and wait to see what happens when Invest 90L lifts away from the Yucatan and finds it's actual center, gets it's groove and the models will be more reliable after having a definitive center. The models are pretty good currently, however it's better to try and find things with the light on then stumbling around in the dark.
Again currently the concern is for the flooding rains vs whether it becomes a TD, TS or Subtropical Storm. Look at that moisture plume sucking up deep tropical moisture and depositing it over the SE and the Mid Atlantic. Then check out the feature to the NW of our Invest digging down and well keep watching as in a day or so you will begin to see the drama. It's like a Soap Opera in that in the beginning the writer's toy with the script (and history) and it doesn't make any sense, but like geometry if you keep watching, studying it at some point it begins to make sense.
Be glad this is a mushy, messy Invest.
Not a WNW bound Hurricane.
If you are impatient and want to see something happening now... feel free to watch the video of the Hawaiian Volcano with the colorful dancing lava fountain in real time. A bit concerned personally about the lava flow that has already flowed onto the property of the power plant. I'll take a hurricane any day, but it's mesmerizing still the same.
***
To be clear.
There is nothing there now.
A small kink in the force there.
Up close.
This is a watch and wait day.
I know I say that a lot.
The models have been calling for development and it's not just about the models there's obviously something there that keeps spewing up moisture and bursts of convection. To be honest the models won't stand down . . . they are standing their ground. Time will tell if this develops where the center will make landfall and more likely where ever this makes landfall be aware heavy rains can be displaced far to the right of the actual track. This happens often with early season and late season systems when conditions are not 100% perfect but allow some development. Remember back to many a big, large subtropical sort of system in the Gulf of Mexico leaning right. And, often what starts out as a subtropical becomes tropical. Only time will tell and that's the truth. But, what is worth noting is we are where we thought we'd be this season that is forecast to be a busy season and possibly starting early. The graphic below shows the real story and the scope of the story across a large area.
That's a shield of moisture.
A water world.
From Nola to Miami.
Includes the Florida Keys.
Spoiler Alert.
And this moisture spreads North after 5 days.
What this basically means is Memorial Day Weekend may be a wipe out for most of the Lower South and the people who make their living from the tourists and local beach goers will be coming up short this summer. Hopefully they can make it up as we move towards July 4th but this will put a big dent in the local economy wherever it goes. I imagine Malls and bars will do a brisk business. Which beaches you ask? That's the big question that the EURO and GFS are currently debating. As always until something actually forms, wraps up around a defined center long range models are weak indications of what will really happen.
The point is that is a forecast map by NOAA that is used by forecasters and updated often as things evolve, change or develop. You can't ignore it, but you can take it with a good measure of salt and be very aware the WEATHER may be on the East side as dry air will be a problem on the West side. So we could get a Tropical Depression or Tropical Storm Alberto that is aiming at the Upper Gulf of Mexico beaches but causing flooding along the West Coast of Florida. What about timing? Does it move fast or slow and when it gets where it is going will it become an unwanted guest that doesn't want to leave? If it leaves will it move North towards the hills of Alabama and Georgia into Tennessee or will it hook right and slide on up towards the Carolinas bringing those beaches more stormy weather? This system may be an equal opportunity beach vacation trouble maker. This weekend might be a good time to go to the movies.
Note even now...
..the convection is strong.
But displaced from the "center"
Or the X the NHC put up.
Either way the models won't back down and it's obvious there is something down there that wants to grow, expand, develop and move North with the overall flow. Dry air on it's West side is a problem and shear is still an issue. This strong tropical flow coming out of the Caribbean won't back down and neither will the Volcano stop putting on a beautiful light show that's causing misery and gobbling up houses as lava fissures ooze up out from the core of the earth and roll down the hillsides. It's all about being caught up in the flow be it a tropical moisture feed or a lava flow that flows all the way to the ocean.
Besos BobbiStorm
Ps.. I'll update during the day if anything becomes clearer but again where it develops, where it goes (does it cross the Yucatan or Cuba or slide through the Yucatan Passage?) and what happens when it gets there is the big story in about five days time. Now is a good time to look through that Hurricane Supply Shopping List, dust off the generator and figure out how many batteries you need for all those things that make life normal when the lights go out. Check out that water temperature chart below, shows how much available heat/energy there is for storms to keep firing up and remember location is everything. http://www.baynews9.com/fl/tampa/weather/tropical.map.html/
The NHC has their own way of doing things and we wait to see what they may or may not say later today. Why aren't they saying something earlier? It's very far away, actually, over a thousand miles off the coast of Mexico and the sun has not even begun to rise on that part of the world yet. Not your normal early May Epac storm that forms close in off the coast of Panama.
Luckily we have many ways to see 90E
Water gets colder out there.
It has a small window for development.
More on that later.
Closer to the East Coast.
This area isn't going away anytime soon.
Always watch the tail end of fronts.
Always but especially in May.
Pic above yesterday.
Below today.
So true.
Stalled out and hanging around.
A set up for possible trouble.
Names for the 2018 Atlantic Season below.
Down below watching swirls.
Just for fun.
It's May I'm allowed to be funny..
..and just enjoy a weather loop.
Cute little swirl I'm watching.
Like great wall art....
Sub Polar Something.
There are now 12 fissures.
This is not a lava flow down the side of a volcano as much as fissures suddenly forming beneath a random home and oozing up lava that pushes and melts everything in it's path. Trees explode as they are heated to some of the highest temperatures on earth that are moving the way a strong Haboob moves across the desert, a dust storm in Oklahoma except here they are sometimes called "curtains of fire" on the move......
...my day starts early during the Hurricane Season.
Always looking for ideas.
On the fashion front it seems ...
...Schiaparelli Pink is in this year!
Pretty sure if women were in charge of the colors at the NHC we'd get a bit more creative and less boring than yellow, orange and red. Nice little Hi Low Hemline dress Stephanie Abrams was wearing today. Kind of looked like an updated Can Can dress made for Tomorrow Land at Disney which should really have a Weather World...
Besos BobbiStorm
@bobbistorm on Twitter
Ps Lightening this dark volcanic discussion with some music for Mike:
I've checked several times today on this area as it has shown potential despite being very far off the coast of Mexico, actually over 1,000 miles to be almost exact. We usually look closer in for development and this is where they usually lose steam and unravel. Possibly a sign that this year in the tropics will be a bit different. While temperatures are warm off the coast they are cooler than usual this time of year, however there are pockets of warmer water further out as seen in these two images shown below.
This is the time of year I watch the set up and the patterns; the analog years and try to decipher what is unique about this year that may become the signature for 2018. Let's say for instance that this year the water is cooler near Africa and warmer closer in in the Western Atlantic. What could that mean? It could mean less "Fish Storms" and less long trackers, but more storms that could threaten the Islands, the Caribbean and the Bahamas. Oh and usually what gets into the Bahamas and the Caribbean can get into the Gulf of Mexico. There are so many possibilities and long range models can be iffy in years when unusual things happen. So keep watching. What I can say is a huge High is setting up steering whatever weak, westbound waves further west. The long link below with the image shows what could become a big player in the 2018 Atlantic Hurricane Season.
The above image is a compilation of 3 different models all showing the strong Bermuda High. Something to think on while you are making preparations for the 2018 Atlantic Hurricane Season.
Besos BobbiStorm
@bobbistorm on Twitter
Ps . . .
Worth noting that TWC has stepped up with more coverage of the Hawaiian Volcano and lava coming up out of fissures seemingly randomly out of the ground. This seems more like a bad Science Fiction Horror Movie vs anything within the realm of "normal" yet as some have pointed out this IS how the island of Hawaii was formed. Yet in times when they volcanoes are quiet we forget and we build and buy beautiful homes in paradise thinking the odds are in our favor. And, they complained about people buying swamp land in the 1920s in South Florida? Hmnn.
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