Actual Hurricane Season Finally Underway

Posted by Greg Laden on August 27, 2010
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Here’s a pretty picture from the Atlantic:

i-a07238a9c8ec655f296bbe472b7785bc-vis-l.jpg

That, dear reader, is what an active hurricane season looks like.


The stuff you see on the left, near Louisiana and across Florida to the Atlantic, is is just crappy weather.

Near the middle of the picture, you can see a very nicely formed hurricane, and that’s Danielle. Danielle is a strong hurricane, Category Four and is getting stronger. Sustained winds are near 135 MPH (214 KPH) with higher gusts. By tomorrow at this time, if not later today, Danielle could become a Category Five storm. Bermuda will be experiencing dangerous surf, and strong waves will actually be experienced along the East Coast of the US staring on the weekend. The storm is heading roughly towards Bermuda, but it is expected to make a sharp right turn and stay way out to sea.
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The blob that is south and east (lower right) of Danielle is Earl. Earl is still a tropical storm, but is on track to strengthen and become a hurricane by the end of the coming weekend.

There is a ridge to the north of Earl that keeps it in a western track, but Danielle has widened a break in this ridge which will probably be Earl’s opening for a run northwestward, possibly with an eventual hook like Danielle is doing. So, Earl is likely to do this:
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To the far right of he image, partly off the map, is an as yet unnamed blob of storminess a couple of hundred miles south-southeast of the Cape Verde Islands. By the end of the weekend, this blob is very likely to be an official tropical depression (number eight) and should fairly quickly form into a named tropical storm. It would be called Fiona.

Not shown is some interesting looking storm activity over the Western Sahara. We’ll see how that develops over the next three or four days or so.

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Comments

  1. #1 Birger Johansson
    August 27, 2010

    Beavis and Butt-Head: “Yes!!! A hurricane!!!”
    I hope no storm will hit Haiti before there is a resemblance of recovery….
    — — — — — —
    WTF? “Anti-Universe Could Be Found By Giant Particle Detector Headed To Space” -Can someone tell me if the Huffington Post has misunderstood the science again?http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/26/alpha-magnetic-spectrometer_n_694479.html

  2. #2 Anony Mouse
    August 27, 2010

    I must have false information in my head. I’ve always been told that, due to the Coriolis effect caused storms to rotate differently in the different hemispheres. Looking at the picture, the disturbance to the North East of Earl is going the wrong way. Where has my information gone wrong?

  3. #3 Anony Mouse
    August 27, 2010

    Doh! After a second look, they are going the right way. I guess I need to get some sleep. Feel free to remove the evidence of my stupidity. :)

  4. #4 LimRickNews
    August 27, 2010

    What’s brewing with Danielle and this Earl?
    What commotion are they about to unfurl?
    Their relation is stormy,
    Hope they inform me,
    They’ll be calm as they swirl and they twirl.
    For more, google “LimRickNews”.

  5. #5 bcoppola
    August 27, 2010

    I’ve been wondering what happened to the predictions of a busy tropical storm season. Being a Midwesterner I’m admittedly not as attuned to such things as Gulf & Atlantic coast dwellers, but even though I know Aug/Sept. are usually the peak is it getting a late start for a busy season?

    BTW we did have a F1 tornado here last week, and the maple in front of our house is now lopsided, nothing worse thankfully. Neighborhood has been resounding with chainsaws and chippers for over a week. House down the street had a big tree go thru their roof – but no injuries there or anywhere.

  6. #6 Greg Laden
    August 27, 2010

    This seems like a late start but this is not unusual. Last year, the first hurricane, Bill, formed on August 15th, and the next hurricane formed on September 7th.

    2005 was a very big year (Katrina hit that year) and the first hurricane was in very early July, with the third hurricane ending by July 21st. By this time last year, there were five hurricanes, with Katrina being the fifth (and one more to come).

  7. #7 bcoppola
    August 27, 2010

    Thanks Greg. BTW, check your last sentence – should it be “by this time *that* year” meaning 2005 or did you mistakenly type Katrina for the fifth ‘cane last year? (I should look it up but I’m lazy).