Talking the Tropics With Mike: A couple active Atlantic tropical waves

Heads-up Western Caribbean, Central America by the weekend

Jacksonville, Fl. — The “Buresh Bottom Line”: Always be prepared!.....First Alert Hurricane Survival Guide... City of Jacksonville Preparedness Guide... Georgia Hurricane Guide.

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REMEMBER WHEN A TROPICAL STORM OR HURRICANE IS APPROACHING: Taping windows is *NOT* helpful & will not keep glass from breaking.

Realize the forecast cone (”cone of uncertainty”) is the average forecast error over a given time - out to 5 days - & *does not* indicate the width of the storm &/or damage that might occur.

Ian is long gone but....

*** With so much rain & ocean water in the “system”, higher than avg. tides will continue through at least this week for the intracoastal, St. Johns River & its tributaries. Nuisance type flooding & ponding will occur with each high tide cycle ***

Ian:

Tropical wave - ‘98-L’ that moved off of Africa last week is moving over the Southern Caribbean & Central Caribbean & was upgraded to tropical depression #9 Friday .... to tropical storm “Ian” Fri. evening... then to a hurricane early Mon. with a landfall over Western Cuba early Tue. as a Cat. 3 hurricane & made landfall southwest of - & near - Ft. Myers Wed. afternoon as an intense Cat. 4 hurricane - the 4th “major” hurricane to hit Florida since 2000 (Charley in ‘04 on the SW coast... Irma in ‘17 in the Keys... Michael in ‘18 in the Panhandle). Ian was declared post-tropical Fri... the last NHC advisory was issued late Sat.

Ian formed from a classic from a tropical wave that formed from a complex of intense storms over Africa... encountered hostile conditions (shear & dry air) for days before finding more favorable conditions. Virtually all ingredients were in place for maintaining Ian’s intensity over the SE Gulf. Unfortunately an eyewall replacement cycle was completed overnight resulting in a rapidly intensifying hurricane Wed. upon approach to the southwest coast of Florida. Due to the hurricane’s size & nearly 2 days as a major hurricane, impacts in the area south of Tampa were even more severe than damage than Cat. 4 Charley caused in the same general area in 2004. Imagery below from CIMMS integrated microwave imagery shows Ian’s intensification early Thu. after an eyewall replacement cycle Wed. night:


Though trending lower, higher than avg. tides will continue to produce mostly nuisance-like ponding/flooding near/at times of high tide along the St. Johns River & its tributaries. Levels will be highest - & most problematic - in Clay/St. Johns & especially Putnam Co. The hydrograph below shows a little recent bump as yet another crest approaches via the very heavy rain in the headwater basin between Orlando & Melbourne northward to Putnam Co.:

‘I’ has been notorious when it comes to hurricanes &, in fact, is the most retired letter (name) since 2000. More info. * here * in the “Buresh Blog”.

An upper level low is spinning over the Central Atlantic well east of the Bahamas. Though producing some occasional convection, no surface development is expected.

A combination of leftover Ian swell + a nontropical low east of Chesapeake Bay is still causing high seas & surf up & down the U.S. eastern seaboard:

Comparison of tracks between Cat. 4 Charley in 2004, Cat. 4 Irma in 2017 & Ian:

The Atlantic....

A tropical wave is “festering” at a low latitude again over the Atlantic several hundred miles southeast of the Lesser Antilles & north of Guyana in S. America. Proximity to land + some shear should allow only slow development before the wave reaches the Central & especially Western Caribbean over the weekend where conditions look more optimal for strengthening. The GFS is more aggressive but both the GFS & European show at least some development & are similar on location/timing moving a tropical cyclone of some sort into Central America late in the weekend/early next week. A lot of troughing (dips in the jet stream) over the U.S. but *early* indications are that this disturbance - ‘91-L’ - will stay far enough south so as to not be drawn northward - at least through early next week.

And a large, active tropical wave over the E. Atlantic is moving northwest, but the wave will not be able to make it all the way across the Atlantic as the disturbance turns rather sharply northward through the weekend over the Eastern then Centra Atlantic as the wave turns a little west in the long run. Conditions are favorable for development in the short term then shear increases by the weekend. In any case, ‘92-L’ stays far to the east of the U.S.

Low pressure off the Mid Atlantic coast just east of Washington D.C. is nontropical but may try to take on some subtropical characteristics while moving little before finally getting pulled northeast later Wed. through Thu./Fri. Heavy rain, gusty winds & rough seas & surf will continue in & around Chesapeake Bay & the nearby coastline through at least midweek while rough seas & surf continue all up & down the U.S. eastern seaboard.

Water vapor loop shows a lot of dry air (dark blue) across the Wester Atlantic Basin:

October origins:

Averages below based on climatology for the Atlantic Basin through September. This season so far is well below avg.:

Wind shear:


Saharan dust spreads west each year from Africa by the prevailing winds (from east to west over the Atlantic). Dry air - yellow/orange/red/pink. Widespread dust is indicative of dry air that can impede the development of tropical cyclones. However, sometimes “wanna’ be” waves will just wait until they get to the other side of - or away from - the plume then try to develop if other conditions are favorable. In my personal opinion, way too much is made about the presence of Saharan dust & how it relates to tropical cyclones. In any case, we’ve had several large dust plumes spread west to the Caribbean & Gulf with the peak of Saharan dust typically in June & July.

2022 names..... “Julia” is the next name on the Atlantic list (names are picked at random by the World Meteorological Organization... repeat every 6 years). Historic storms are retired [Florence & Michael in ’18... Dorian in ’19 & Laura, Eta & Iota in ‘20 & Ida in ‘21]). In fact, this year’s list of names is rather infamous with “Charley”, “Frances”, “Jeanne” & “Ivan” retired from the ‘04 list (all hit Fl.) & “Matthew” was retired in 2016. The WMO decided - beginning last year - that the Greek alphabet will be no longer used & instead there will be a supplemental list of names if the first list is exhausted (has only happened three times - 2005, 2020 & 2021). The naming of tropical cyclones began on a consistent basis in 1953. More on the history of naming tropical cyclones * here *.

East Atlantic:

Mid & upper level wind shear (enemy of tropical cyclones) analysis (CIMMS). The red lines indicate strong shear:

Water vapor imagery (dark blue indicates dry air):

Deep oceanic heat content over the Gulf, Caribbean & deep tropical Atlantic:

Sea surface temp. anomalies:

SE U.S. surface map:

Surface analysis centered on the tropical Atlantic:

Surface analysis of the Gulf:

Caribbean:

GFS wave forecast at 48 & 72 hours (2 & 3 days):

Atlantic Basin wave period forecast for 24, 48 & 72 hours respectively:

Updated Atlantic seasonal forecast from early Aug. - NOAA & CSU:

The East Pacific:

West Pacific:

Global tropical activity:



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