Saturday, September 30, 2006

Fortunately, I haven't had much to say in September!

Besides being out of town more than in during, September, Gordon, Helene, & Issac all followed one another up into the North Atlantic leaving me with nothing to say here. Hopefully I won't be posting much in October either!

In the meantime, take 1 minute to look at this EXCELLENT animation of the amount of damage various hurricane categories can have on property. Click here.

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Zero 2 Eight

  • Florence is a Zero - Non-tropical storm headed to Newfoundland
  • Gordon is a Category 2 Hurricane chasing Florence
  • Tropical Depression 8 has formed, may become Hurricane Helene this weekend, but hopefully will make it 3 in a row up the middle of the Atlantic!
  • Tuesday, September 12, 2006

    Gordon Forms, Follows Florence....

    Headed into the North Atlantic. We're nearly 1/2 way through the peak month of the season.

    Sunday, September 10, 2006

    Light Earthquake Season? How about an Earthquake?

    ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- A strong, 6.0 earthquake in the Gulf of Mexico was felt throughout the Southeast but caused no apparent damage, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

    The quake was not powerful enough to trigger a tsunami warning.

    The quake, about 250 miles west of Tampa, Florida, was "pretty unusual" for the area.

    Florence continues to strengthen and is now a Cat 1 Hurricane that will impact Bermuda on Monday. Here's the AP Story.

    Saturday, September 09, 2006

    The Alberto and Ernesto Show

    The Roanoke Times take on this year's rather tame hurricane season. Meanwhile Florence will affect Bermuda before disappearing in the North Atlantic.

    Wednesday, September 06, 2006

    Turn Baby Turn!

    All models show Florence growing big but turning up and away from the "lower 48". But hold on to your Bermuda shorts if you're on that island.

    Tuesday, September 05, 2006

    Florence is out there....


    From the Associated Press: Tropical Storm Florence formed far out in the open Atlantic on Tuesday, and forecasters said it will probably become a hurricane.

    But they said it was too soon to tell whether the sixth named storm of the hurricane season would reach the United States.

    Florence had sustained wind near 45 mph, 6 mph over the threshold for a tropical storm. The minimum for a hurricane is 74 mph.

    "Our forecast does have it becoming a hurricane by Friday morning - minimal hurricane, Category 1," National Hurricane Center meteorologist Mark Willis said.

    At 5 p.m. EDT, the storm was centered 960 miles east of the Lesser Antilles, or about 2,100 miles southeast of Miami, and was moving northwest at about 12 mph.

    The storm follows on the heels of Tropical Storm Ernesto, which was briefly the season's first hurricane before weakening and hitting Florida and North Carolina last week as a tropical storm. It formed over the southern Caribbean on Aug. 25.

    At least nine deaths in the United States were blamed on Ernesto, which also killed two people in Haiti, delayed the launch of the space shuttle Atlantis and blacked out thousands of homes and businesses from North Carolina to New York state.

    Last year's Atlantic storm season had a record 28 named storms and 15 hurricanes, including Katrina.

    Monday, September 04, 2006

    Still a Depression ......but.....

    Accuweather at 11:50am this morning said "It is not out of the question that it could be a major hurricane at that time. One other feature associated with this tropical wave is a front-running area of low pressure between 45 and 50 west. This feature should stay on a more westerly course toward the Lesser Antilles. It could end up as a developing tropical cyclone across the northwest Caribbean or close to South Florida next weekend. "

    Sunday, September 03, 2006

    Tropical Depression 6 forms in Atlantic

    1525 miles east of the northern Leeward Islands. Accuweather thinks it could become Tropical Storm Florence on Labor Day and then track west to be north of the Virgin Islands or near South Florida by next weekend.

    Friday, September 01, 2006

    2006 Hurricane Forecast Lowered!

    Hurricane authority Dr. Wiliam Gray wrote today: "We now anticipate that the 2006 Atlantic basin tropical cyclone (TC) season will be considerably less active than the seasonal activity we anticipated in our earlier forecasts and in our updated 3 August forecast.

    We now expect that the 2006 hurricane season will have slightly less hurricane activity than the long-term average. This is due to an unexpected increase in tropical Atlantic mid-level dryness (with large amounts of African dust) and a continued trend towards El NiƱo-like conditions in the eastern and central Pacific"

    September is typically the busiest month and he's calling for 5 named storms, 3 hurricanes, 2 major hurricanes.

    No sign of Florence yet.