Where are those tropical storms?

Not that I'm complaining.


Andy Johnson, meteorologist at the Fox TV affiliate in Tampa points out that there have only been 15 named storms in the entire Northern Hemisphere so far this year and it's the lowest number of tropical cyclones to date since reliable records began in 1948. 


Dry air in the Atlantic seems to be the culprit coupled with the record heat wave in Russia.  Good news for now, but we are only 1/3 of the way through the season and coming into the peak of the season.  Andy says that long range models show things may pick up at the end of August

Florida Cabinet Delays Hurricane Fund Assessments

The Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund needs $710 million to continue to pay claims still coming in from 2005's Hurricane Wilma but it is going to have to wait to assess policyholders to get those funds.

The Florida Cabinet yesterday indicated it wants more of those claims investigated to make sure they are legitimate claims before authorizing the bond and raising assessments on all policyholders to pay for them.

Read more

First Wave to Watch of the Season

Limited chance of this becoming anything to worry about over next 48 hours....

ZCZC MIATWOAT ALL
TTAA00 KNHC DDHHMM
TROPICAL WEATHER OUTLOOK
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL
200 PM EDT FRI JUL 17 2009

FOR THE NORTH ATLANTIC...CARIBBEAN SEA AND THE GULF OF MEXICO...

1. SHOWER ACTIVITY ASSOCIATED WITH A TROPICAL WAVE LOCATED ABOUT 800
MILES WEST-SOUTHWEST OF THE CAPE VERDE ISLANDS HAS BECOME A LITTLE
BETTER ORGANIZED TODAY. HOWEVER...CONDITIONS ARE ONLY MARGINALLY
FAVORABLE...AND ANY ADDITIONAL DEVELOPMENT WILL BE SLOW TO OCCUR AS
THE WAVE MOVES WESTWARD AT 15 TO 20 MPH. THERE IS A LOW CHANCE...
LESS THAN 30 PERCENT...OF THIS SYSTEM BECOMING A TROPICAL CYCLONE
DURING THE NEXT 48 HOURS.

ELSEWHERE...TROPICAL CYCLONE FORMATION IS NOT EXPECTED DURING THE
NEXT 48 HOURS.

$$
FORECASTER BRENNAN
NNNN

Progress Energy to use Twitter for hurricane season power updates

Here's the Press Release & News Coverage.

Presumably you'll need to keep your laptop or mobile device charged to get the updates.

Follow me on Twitter

Digital Transition To Darken Most Portable TVs

With no electricity (say in the case of a hurricane), no cable TV, no Internet and the digital converter boxes for old analog TVs won't work. Battery powered digital TVs are in short supply and appear not to work very well.

Threw away my old 6 inch battery powered analog TV this weekend.

Looks like an opportunity for local radio!

Florida Avoids Hurricanes AGAIN!!

Here's a recap of the 2008 season, by the numbers:

16 – Named storms

8 – Hurricanes

7 – Tropical storms

1 – Sub-tropical storm

5 – Category 3 or stronger hurricanes

$27.8 million – Federal Emergency Management aid in Florida for damage from Tropical Storm Fay

27.65 inches – Most rain recorded from Tropical Storm Fay, 8 miles northwest of Melbourne

0.72 inches – Rain recorded at Tampa International Airport from Tropical Storm Fay

4 – Number of times Tropical Storm Fay made landfall in Florida

18 – Days Hurricane Bertha lasted, the longest-lived July hurricane on record

3 – Consecutive seasons since Florida has been hit by a hurricane

Tracks of the 2008 Hurricane Season

Days to go before the end of the 2008 season. Here's how the season played out.

Storms strengthening south and east of Florida

Storms off Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic are expected to strengthen in the next 48 hours, with at least one projected to become a hurricane, but neither is pointed toward Florida at the moment.

Kyle is Born!

Kyle formed this afternoon. Headed Due North.

More storms early this season than all but 4 years of the last 150

Yikes!

Last week experts raised their predictions for this year's Atlantic hurricane activity.

Meanwhile, Accuweather says keep an eye on a tropical wave coming off Africa coast Sunday for potential development next week.

Tropical Storm Edouard forms in Gulf of Mexico

I don't think the name "Edouard" is in new baby circulation anymore. But if you must see who the famous Edouards are, look here .

Bertha Born

Off the coast of Africa. Headed for nowhere. Hurricane-starved Florida local news makes it lead story despite distance away and no threat to US. It does set a record as the earliest tropical storm to form that far East in the Atlantic. Typically Africa spawns storms starting in August. Having one this early in the season could be a bad sign!

The last Bertha was in 1996 and hit North Carolina.

Felix Makes History

Felix is the second Category 5 storm to rake the Caribbean coast this year, after Hurricane Dean — the first time two Category 5 Atlantic storms have made landfall during the same year.

And the National Hurricane Center in Miami said that Felix and another hurricane, Henriette, which simultaneously hit the southern tip of Baja California in Mexico, became the first Atlantic and Pacific hurricanes to make landfall on the same day since the center began keeping records half a century ago, The Associated Press reported.

Since reliable record keeping began in 1944, there have been 27 Category 5 hurricanes in the Atlantic. Eight of these have occurred in the past five years. That would be 30%.

Felix prowling in the Southern Caribbean

From a disturbance to a depression to a Tropical Storm in just a couple of days. Felix should stay well south of the US and scratch the Yucatan at a Cat 1 or 2 hurricane Tuesday Night.


The storm name
"Felix" was last used in 2001 and was the first named storm post 9-11. It reached Cat 3 in the Atlantic but died out before reaching any land mass.