Irene- Please Be Kind!

Best of luck to everyone along the East Coast!   We're praying that Irene provides as Good a Night (and day) as possible!

Cuts could limit Hurricane Research

From the Miami Herald 

Meanwhile:

Tropical Storm Don making landfall in Texas

Only three hurricanes have struck Florida in July since 1900, but.....

The three incidents include Dennis, a Category 3 when it struck near Pensacola in 2005, a Category 2 system that hit near Cocoa Beach in 1926 and a Category 1 storm that struck Central Florida in 1933.

Read the entire SunSentinel story here. 

Early Tropical Disturbance in Atlantic

From the Palm Beach Post and the Weather Underground:

Early tropical disturbance in Atlantic not a sign of active season, hurricane expert says

By John Nelander | Friday, April 22, 2011, 08:56 AM

The low pressure system north of Puerto Rico was still holding together Friday, but the National Hurricane Center cut its chances of tropical development. (Credit: NOAA)

It’s unusual for the National Hurricane Center to start tracking a tropical system this early in the year - hurricane season doesn’t officially begin until June 1.

But there’s no need to hit the panic button, a hurricane expert says. Early disturbances in that part of the Atlantic basin do not portend a busy season.

The NHC began discussing the system, designated 91L, on Thursday. It was still on their radar Friday morning, although forecasters had reduced the chances that the disturbance would grow into Tropical Storm Arlene, the first of the 2011 season.
Satellite images showed the swirl of clouds and storms was still holding together, though.

“It’s interesting that it’s done as well as it has, because there’s really high wind shear,” meteorologist Jeff Masters, co-founder of online weather portal Weather Underground, said in an interview Thursday. “We’re talking 70 or 80 knots when 20 is often enough to tear something apart.

“It is early to be having a tropical disturbance like this because you don’t often see that in April. But it’s definitely not a harbinger of an active season. Sings of an early season are systems that are coming off the coast of Africa, or in the Caribbean.
“You start to get a lot of early activity down there and that’s when you worry. But early activity between the Bahamas and Bermuda doesn’t really matter that much.”

On Friday, 91L was plotted at 25.3N 63W, or 496 miles south-southeast of Bermuda and 1,064 miles due east of Palm Beach. It had winds of 40 mph but had not developed into a true tropical system. It was moving to the north at about 10 mph.
But some computer models show the system - or at least moisture associated with the low - nearing the Florida coast early next week.

A Winter's Hurricane?!

Wind gusts and LOW pressure is Hurricane-like in the Northeast:

Thanks to NBC's Today Show and The Weather Channel for these images

No Hurricanes in 5 Years -- but Insurance Rates Rise

Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty says rates continue to climb because the state is still hurricane prone and non-hurricane losses have gone up 65 percent for insurance companies. McCarty says many of those losses come from sinkholes  Read the whole story here.

12/27/10 Update:  The increases have been announced.

2010 Hurricane Season Ends Today!

• 19 Named Storms  (3rd Highest on Record)
• 12 Hurricanes (2nd Highest on Record)
• None hit the US
• Last storm to affect US Mainland was Wilma, in October 2005 making it 5 years since the last major hurricane hit the mainland.

Here's the recap of the 2010 season on Wikipedia

Tropical Depression 19 Forms

This one should head west but one model has it coming up into the Gulf and perhaps turning east.   We'll want to keep an eye on this one as we head into the final 40 days of the 2010 Hurricane Season.

When & if it becomes a named storm it will be Richard.

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at4+shtml/023214.shtml?5-daynl#contents

Paula grew up fast and is now deciding where to go..

Hurricane Paula, the 16th named storm and 9th hurricane of the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season. Paula intensified remarkably quickly, setting a modern record for the fastest intensification from the issuance of the first advisory to hurricane strength since reliable record keeping of intensification rates of Atlantic hurricanes began in 1970 according to meteorologist Jeff Masters from the Weather Underground.


<sup>However, it may turn out that Paula will be recognized as intensifying from first advisory to a hurricane which would be eighteen hours, tying 2007's Hurricane Humberto, the most recent record holder. 


There have been six storms that accomplished this  feat in 24 hours.


Most models show the storm heading towards Cuba after a sideswipe of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.  South Florida remains on alert, especially the Keys.   


Wikipedia has an entry saying this is only the 5th time we've had a storm start with the letter P.   Read more about that here.</sup>

October is the 3rd Most Active Month of Hurricane Season

While September is traditionally the busiest month, and it was this year, October is also historically active.  Especially in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean.  The Weather Channel data shows October averages show 2 storms per year:

And here's where they have originated in the first 10 days of the month:

We're looking forward to getting past October.  The season ends in 60 days, so we're only 2/3 of the way through.